Coordinating Transportation to Reduce Costs: Possibilities for 14 Regional Cooperatives

Excerpts from the Preface: This is an exploratory study to determine: (1) Transportation methods and programs that offer the greatest potential for coordinating the inter-cooperative, north-south flows of grain and bulk farm supplies among 14 midwestern regional grain marketing and farm supply cooperatives, and (2) ways of reducing transportation costs for the cooperatives. These 14 cooperatives are the principal cooperative shippers of grain moving to the Gulf and the principal cooperative receivers of bulk farm supplies moving from the Gulf to the Midwestern States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. The study examines 1970 methods of transporting grain and bulk farm supplies by rail and barge between the Gulf and the Midwest; economic advantages of shipper-operated versus for-hire carrier transportation equipment; and alternative transportation programs to increase' efficiency, reduce costs and improve service for the participating cooperatives. Need for this study arises from the following: (1) Rapid expansion of cooperative shipments of grain and bulk fertilizer between the Gulf and the Midwest; (2) continuing shortages of railcars and barges; (3) poor utilization of shipper-operated transportation equipment; and (4) an unsatisfactory transportation system to meet the needs of changing grain marketing and fertilizer distribution programs.