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Value to the Nation: Coastal Navigation Fast Facts

VTN Fast Facts mapNavigation is USACE's earliest Civil Works mission, dating back to 1824 when Federal laws authorized and funded USACE to improve safety on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and several ports. USACE provides safe, reliable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation systems (channels, harbors, and waterways) for movement of commerce, national security needs, and recreation. Activities in the Civil Works Navigation Program include planning, designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and further improving navigation channels, locks and dams.

Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports

Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports can be selected by national, project, USACE Division, or USACE District level. Select 2020 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports".

Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Archive

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 2019 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2019 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2018 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2018 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2017 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2017 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2016 Coastal Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2016 Flood Risk Management Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the state report collection, select "All State Reports".

How these numbers were calculated.

More Information

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 Benefits in Perspective


For the purposes of the Value to the Nation effort, navigation infrastructure has been subdivided into three primary categories: Inland, Coastal, and Great Lakes. Coastal navigation infrastructure refers to improved (widened, deepened) channels that are directly connected to the ocean. The majority of coastal navigation infrastructure features deep-draft ports, which are greater than 14 feet of draft. Coastal deep-draft navigation infrastructure typically pertains to coastal ports and harbors engaged in international trade. In most cases, it is also associated with the distribution of internationally traded goods to multiple US coastal ports and harbors, such as Miami and New York.

The primary National Economic Development (NED) benefit of USACE coastal deep-draft navigation infrastructure is the transportation cost savings realized from the more efficient use of existing and larger vessels. Specific transportation savings may result from the use of larger vessels, more efficient use of large vessels, more efficient use of existing vessels, reductions in transit time, lower cargo handling and tug assistance costs, reduced interest and storage costs such as from an extended navigation season, and the use of water transportation rather than an alternative land mode.

 How these numbers were calculated


The National Economic Development (NED) benefit estimate for Coastal Deep-Draft Navigation reflects transportation cost savings and was calculated by USACE navigation experts using the National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS), which was developed and is currently maintained by the USACE Institute for Water Resources. NNOMPEAS was used to estimate how waterborne transportation costs changed based on significant changes in waterway dimensions relative to pre-project conditions. This method differs from those used in the estimation of NED benefits for Inland and Great Lakes Navigation, as those methods focus on how waterway transportation costs change relative to the next best alternative (rail transportation). For Coastal Navigation, transportation of goods by a different mode (rail or air) would not be a logical alternative, therefore the pre-project condition was used as a basis for estimating benefits.

This analysis determined a regression relationship between depth and transportation costs. Assuming that each foot of additional depth beyond the original historical depth creates new opportunities for ships to load more cargo or for larger ships to enter, additional benefits were calculated for each additional increment of depth. This regression relationship was applied to the top 95 coastal ports (in terms of cargo tons1) to compare coastal deep-draft transportation costs at today’s depths with the costs that would have existed if the ports had not been modified by USACE. It should be recognized that the regression was based on depth changes of minus five to eight feet and the application of this relationship to larger depth changes creates additional risk of other changes, such as fleet composition, that the NNOMPEAS model does not account for. Transportation cost savings per ton were estimated for each of the top 95 ports by interpolating the cost savings associated with the difference between today's depth and the historical depth. The estimated transportation cost savings per ton was then multiplied by the tonnage throughput for each respective port in order to estimate NED benefits for each of the top 95 ports. Together, these 95 ports represent about 99% of all coastal tonnage.

Update of relationships beyond the original base year detailed evaluation are based on application of regression relationships to throughput tonnage by respective year, applicable update of vessel operating costs according to vessel type and size or capacity class, and distances for open water transit which are the primary factors for estimating total applicable transportation costs and the differentials therein for estimating economic benefits for the coastal waterborne navigation program.

1Note: All tonnage values reported are measured in short tons.

Sources of Data

  • FY 2020
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2020). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS). (2020). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
  • FY 2019
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS). (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
  • FY 2018
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2018). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS). (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
  • FY 2017
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2017). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS). (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
  • FY 2016
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2016). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • National Navigation Operation and Maintenance Performance Evaluation and Assessment System (NNOMPEAS). (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.