25 Jan 2022

Freight Fluidity for the Port of Baltimore: Vessel Approach and Maritime Mobility Metrics

Abstract: The United States Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with maintaining waterborne transportation system elements. Understanding channel utilization by vessels informs decisions regarding operations, maintenance, and investments in those elements. Historically, investment decisions have been informed by safety, environmental considerations, and projected economic benefits of alleviating channel restrictions or shipping delays (usually derived from models). However, quantifying causes and impacts of shipping delays based on actual historical vessel location data and then identifying which causes could be ameliorated through investment has been out of reach until recently. In this study, Automatic Identification System vessel position reports were used to develop quantitative measures of transit and dwell-time reliabilities for commercial vessels calling at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland. This port has two deep-water approaches: Chesapeake Bay and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Descriptive metrics were determined for each approach, including port cycle time, harbor stay hours, travel time inbound, and travel time outbound. Then, additional performance measures were calculated: baseline travel time, travel time index, and planning time index. The key finding of this study is that the majority of variability in port cycle time is due to the variability in harbor stay hours, not from channel conditions or channel restrictions.

24 Jan 2022

AIS Data Case Study: Evaluating Reception of AIS Position Reports on the Missouri River by LOMA AIS Sites in April and August 2020

Abstract: This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) describes a method for evaluating the received coverage from Automatic Identification System (AIS) shoreside sites along the Missouri River managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Lock Operations Management Application (LOMA), and presents the results of that analysis. The purpose is to identify AIS coverage gaps in the current system. Reception of AIS transmissions between shore-based transceivers and vessels is generally line-of-sight between the vessel and the AIS site antenna. However, signal reception may be affected by factors such as the distance and terrain between the vessel and the transceiver site, quality of the transceiver installation, state of the equipment either aboard the vessel or at the shore transceiver station, and atmospheric phenomena. Quantifying coverage gaps along the inland waterways system can inform research that uses AIS data, provide information on the performance of the AIS network, and provide guidance for efforts to address coverage gaps to improve navigation safety. In autumn 2020, severe shoaling was occurring on the Missouri River. As the shoals were identified, the Kansas City District requested the LOMA system transmit AIS Aid to Navigation (AtoN) to mark the shoals in several critical areas. However, vessel pilots sometimes reported that they were not receiving the AIS AtoN being transmitted. At the request of the Kansas City District, the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (ERDC-CHL), conducted a coverage analysis using data collected from the LOMA AIS transceivers in the area to determine if there were coverage issues and their extent and to aid in determining the best means of addressing any coverage gaps.

7 Jan 2022

Hydrodynamics in the Morganza Floodway and Atchafalaya Basin, Report 3: Phase 3; A Report for the US Army Corps of Engineers, MRG&P

Abstract: The Morganza Floodway and the Atchafalaya Basin, located in Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, were evaluated using a two-dimensional Adaptive Hydraulics model. Prior to this study, Phase 1 and 2 model studies were performed that indicated that the existing floodway may not be able to pass the Project Design Flood discharge of 600,000 cubic feet per second due to levee overtopping. In this study, all elevations of exterior and interior levees were updated with current crest elevations. In addition, the Phase 3 effort evaluated the sensitivity of the floodway’s flow capacity to variations in tree/vegetation density conditions. These adjustments in roughness will improve the understanding of the role of land cover characteristics in the simulated water surfaces. This study also provides a number of inundation maps corresponding to certain flows through the Morganza Control Structure.