Example

Some economists believe that the United States can be utilized as “land bridge” for the shipment of
containerized cargo between Europe and the Far East. Under the land-bridge concept, containerized freight
traveling between Europe Line and the Far East would be shipped by ocean carrier to the United States East
Coast, unloaded and placed on special railway flatcars, and shipped via railroad to a West Coast port. At this
port, the containers would then be loaded on ships bound to a Far East port of entry. This procedure would
be reversed for material traveling in the opposite direction. Thus, a land transportation system would be
substituted for marine transportation during part of the movement of goods between Europe and the Far
East.

If a land-bridge system of shipment were deemed feasible and competitive with alternative methods, it
would open a completely new market for both United States steamship lines and railroads. At present,
foreign lines carry all Far East-Europe freight. American carriers get none of this trade, and the all-water
route excludes the railroads.

The system established by a land bridge could also serve to handle goods now being shipped between the
United States West Coast and Europe, or goods shipped between the Far East and the United States Gulf and
East Coasts. Currently there are 20 foreign lines carrying West Coast freight to Europe via Panama Canal, but
not one United States line. Thus, in addition to the land bridge getting this new business for the railroads, it
also gives the United States Coast ships an opportunity to compete for this trade.

While this method of shipment will probably not add to the labor requirements at East and West Coast piers,
it does have the potential of absorbing some of the jobs that the containerization of current cargo has
eliminated or could eliminate. Thus, the possibility of creating new jobs for longshoremen is not an expected
benefit of such a system, but it will most certainly create other labor requirements. The land-bridge concept
has the potential of offering new job openings for United States railway workers and seamen. In addition,
there would be expansion of labor requirements for people in the shipbuilding and container manufacturing
business.

By making United States rail transportation an export service, the land-bridge system would have a favorable
effect on our balance of payments. Such a system also has the potential of relieving the United States
government of part of the burden it now bears in the form of subsidies to the shipping industry. The federal
government subsidizes the construction and operation of scheduled vessels. Some 52 percent of the income
from their operation comes from the government in that these ships are used for all our military and other
government-related export shipments. The land-bridge requirement for scheduled sailings could effect a shift
from the use of these scheduled lines for shipment of government goods to commercial cargo of the land
bridge. This would then open some of the lucrative government business to the unscheduled, unsubsidized
lines.