Water and Pipelines ABCD

Water transportation is attractive to shippers for the movement of which commodities?
a. automobiles and construction machinery
b. large, bulky and oversized shipments
c. basic raw materials
d. inventory items

Which is the first major classification of water carriers?
a. company-owned and exempt carriers
b. for hire and private carriers
c. exempt and private carriers
d. regulated and exempt carriers

Which best describes the domestic water carrier industry?
a. a limited number of small firms
b. large businesses with some offshore ownership
c. the carriers that report to the Surface Transportation Board's water section
d. the regulated carriers account for approximately one-fourth of the industry's total carriers

Which category of carrier dominates the for-hire segment of the water carrier industry?
a. common
b. contract
c. exempt
d. regulated

The water carrier's principal competitor for the movement of grain, coal, and ores is which mode of transportation?
a. pipelines
b. Canadian and foreign owned water carriers
c. railroads
d. motor carriers

Water carriers compete to a limited degree with motor carriers. In most cases, what is the main interaction between the motor and water carriers?
a. to move shipments from one area at a port to another
b. to transport liquid cargo from a tanker to a refinery
c. to transport shipments too small for a barge to an area when they can be assembled into a large enough quantity for a barge
d. to overcome accessibility constraints of water carriers, linking inland areas to the waterways

Water carriage is recognized as being a catalyst for economic activity in a community. This recognition is used as a justification for which of the following?
a. private investment in waterway construction
b. public investment in railroad construction as a connector for water transportation
c. public investment in and operation of ports
d. private investment in highway construction as a connector for water transportation

Water carrier's intramodal competition is characterized by:
a. fierce and intense and ongoing efforts
b. very much a Lazes Faire or live and let live approach
c. very limited due the nature of industry
d. mandated by the ICC termination Act of 1995

The Supreme Court decided that the pipelines are required to operate as common carriers if a shipper of oil demands their services. This decision is known as the:
a. Standard Oil Case.
b. Alaska North Slope Case.
c. Champlin Oil Case.
d. Hepburn Case.

Which is a significant factor allowing the pipelines to increase their capacity and move an increased amount of tonnage?
a. larger pipe diameters
b. seamless pipe
c. major advances in technology
d. government regulations which require that the lines move product more quickly

Pipeline accounts for 20% of the total intercity tonnage shipped in the U.S.. However their revenues are only 4% of the total intercity transportation revenues. Why is this?
a. high incidence of loss and damage
b. low reliability
c. Shipper's ability to negotiate lower rates because of intense completion among modes
d. low rates

Which of the following best describes the oil pipelines in the United States?
a. primarily operated as private carriers on a not-for-hire basis
b. primarily operated as private carriers on a for-hire basis
c. primarily operated as common carriers on a for-hire basis
d. primarily operated as common carriers on a not for-hire basis

Which two factors have contributed to joint ownership of large-diameter pipelines?
a. high variable costs of ownership and low rates
b. economies of scale and high fixed costs of ownership
c. government regulation and development funds
d. rail competition and the growth of domestic water transport

What medium is used to move coal in slurry lines?
a. compressed air
b. gas
c. water
d. vacuum

Which is a major advantage offered by the pipelines?
a. capability
b. low rates
c. long transit times with "storage in transit"
d. accessibility

The most serious threat to the pipeline industry are from which form of competition?
a. Canadian companies building new pipelines into the U.S.
b. natural gas powered pipeline
c. intramodal
d. intermodal

Oil pipelines used for movement of products from storage areas and refineries to market-oriented tank farms are classified as which of the following?
a. gathering lines
b. transmission lines
c. trunk lines
d. product lines

The pipelines provide their own rights of way, construct the pipelines and pumping stations, pay property taxes, and provide for the preventative maintenance of their transportation networks. This contributes to the high proportion of which of the following in the pipeline's cost structure?
a. semi-variable costs
b. fixed costs
c. variable costs
d. revenue costs

Different grades of crude oil or products in the pipeline at the same time may not mix because of a technique which keeps them separated. This is done with:
a. block
b. batching pig
c. batching ball
d. slurry

Which mode of transportation has costs that come closest to pipeline costs?
a. rail
b. motor
c. water
d. air

Which of the following is not a commodity that water and rail competes to move?
a. grain
b. coal
c. oil
d. chemicals