Alternative Scenarios in Analyzing Florida’s Freight Imbalance

Abstract

Florida struggles with a serious imbalance between inbound and outbound freight. With the third largest population in the U.S., the state offers a large and attractive consumer market. Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reveal that the total freight tonnage entering the state is nearly double the tonnage leaving the state. This imbalance suggests that many ships, containers, rail cars, and trucks leave the state empty or only partially loaded, which raises the cost for shippers and reduces the effectiveness of freight movements. One solution to this problem is for Florida seaports to secure a higher percentage of shipments bound for Florida markets.

Therefore, the major goal of this project was to evaluate opportunities to reduce the current inbound-outbound freight imbalance by increasing the percentage of imports consumed in Florida that enter the marketplace through Florida seaports and airports. To achieve this goal, the research team performed a multitude of different tasks in order to come up with an action plan to alleviate Florida’s freight imbalance. In return, the research team was able to determine specific scenarios where direct shipments to Florida has better results for landed times and landed costs for the shippers.