One flatbed railroad car carries four 20-foot containers.  But a jumbo barge carries 72 twenty-foot containers (the equivalent of 15 railroad cars), and a 15 barge tow carries 225 railroad cars or 1,080 twenty-foot containers.

In addition, barge transport is 8.5 times more fuel efficient than trucks and 2.5 times more efficient than rail.  It also extends the life of roadways and is the safest form of transportation, particularly with regard to chemicals and toxic material transport.