Analysis of Containerized Freight Shipments into the U.S. -Port Choice and Inland Optimization

This dissertation focuses on the behavior analysis of international container freight into the U.S., and on the collection and manipulation of imported containerized shipment record data to help in the development of the model and for use in scenario analysis. The model designed as choice models estimated shipment’s port choice behaviors between international trading partner countries and states in the U.S. under the intermodal freight framework. This is as opposed to or extended from the previous approach of aggregated optimization simulations or partial choice behavior analysis. The estimated port choice model allowed much deeper scope of freight demand management and facility enhancement policies to be evaluated, as compared to currently used approaches. Also optimization model is estimated to analyze overall freight flow into the U.S. in case of capacity expansions. This dissertation considered two capacity expansions on the Panama Canal and the port of Prince Rupert in Canada. Both models and its implications on freight flow into the U.S. demonstrated significant attributes for choosing ports and distributional changes in the U.S.