Analysis of Freight Movements in the San Joaquin Valley

Freight transportation plays a primary role in supply chains, costs, and availability of goods and is a major part of the economy. This study identifies, assesses, and utilizes different data sources to uncover and understand the patterns and movements of different types of freight in the San Joaquin Valley’s (SJV's) different counties. The San Joaquin Valley region consists of eight counties: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Tulare. This research explored some major datasets with freight information, such as Global Trade Atlas (GTA), Port Imports and Exports Reporting Systems (PIERS), and Streetlight data insights for the year 2019 (to explore movements of freight pre-COVID-19). The primary software programs used for this analysis include MS Excel, MS Access, ArcGIS, and StreetLight InSight. This research investigated all modes of freight transportation (air, water, rail, and road) for domestic and international trade. This research’s findings demonstrate the strengths and limitations of different data sources for understanding freight movements in the San Joaquin Valley. These findings should be valuable for different government and private agencies for various use cases such as developing transportation infrastructure, freight business, and environment assessments.