Mercator International worked with a team of consulting firms to design and analyze alternative coastwise liner services between selected Northeast US ports and Southeast/Florida ports, utilizing either fully-cellular containerships, pure roll-on/roll-off ships, or hybrid ships, for the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, as part of the latter’s Marine Highways initiative. This analysis helped the Maritime Administration to understand the economic challenges for operators of cabotage coastwise services competing against rail and truck carriers.