An expected consequence approach to assessing the viability of multimodal transportation of crude oil in eastern Canada

The refineries in eastern Canada depend primarily on the marine networks to meet their crude demand. This exclusive reliance on a single mode results in overloaded marine networks, which in turn increases the associated risk for oil spills and relevant environmental costs. This paper considers the geography of the region, and investigates the viability of using marine-railroad multimodal combination to move shipments in the region. The most popular measure of risk viz., expected consequence is used to analyze a case study in eastern Canada, and to arrive at an affirmative conclusion. However, given the dearth of a comprehensive empirical dataset, one needs to exercise caution in making deductions.