By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

The Port of Charleston’s rail connections with markets in the Southeast flow well, but more needs to be done from a system-wide perspective to improve its connectivity with points north and west, according to Joseph H. Boardman of the Federal Railroad Administration.

Among the steps he wants to see implemented are accelerating the development of short sea shipping, improving intermodel connectivity, standardizing electronic communications between transport providers and improving rail line safety, particularly along non-signalized routes.

Boardman, who was appointed FRA administrator last year by President George W. Bush, was in Charleston to speak before the American Association of Railroad Supervisors at the Francis Marion Hotel.

Prior to his speech, he told the Business Journal that, in light of the booming trade volume through U.S. ports, “There’s an increased recognition that we need to be doing something different in terms of moving freight.

“What’s clear, given the sheer volume of cargo that’s both coming into and going out of the country through East Coast ports like the Port of Charleston, is that we have to look at the nation’s transportation network comprehensively and consider how even seemingly distant projects can enhance the movement of cargo from the city to the rest of the country,” Boardman said.

“We also have to set aside old notions of competitiveness between industries and recognize that ships, rail and trucks all have a role to play in the movement of cargo, and that none of these industries can do it alone,” he said. “After all, while I’m a rail person, it would be foolhardy not to recognize that trucks have to be employed for the last mile. The question is how do you improve the interface between all these people?”

Of course, much of what Boardman mentioned has been part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s freight action agenda for nearly a decade, but cargo capacity problems on the West Coast and the resultant shift of freight to the east has hastened the need for action.

Among the remote projects Boardman thinks will reap benefits for the Port of Charleston is a $300 million joint venture between the Norfolk Southern Corp. and Kansas City Southern that will create a new 320-mile rail line known as the Meridian Speedway between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La.

“Right now, the rail connections west through Memphis, Tenn., don’t work very well, and as a result, businesses utilizing East Coast ports tend to try to serve only those customers of theirs east of the Mississippi River,” Boardman said. “While that makes sense from the perspective that 70 percent of the United States’ population lives in that area, it’s also slowing growth into new and emerging U.S. markets.”

Boardman lauded local efforts, such as the recent dredging of the navigation channel and the construction of the new Cooper River bridge, but said when the issue is moving ever-greater volumes through a transportation network, proactive fixes in one area won’t address all challenges.

“The next thing I think people need to look at is greater connectivity to Interstate 95,” he said.

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.

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