I’m far from an expert, but it seems that ships win on price pretty strongly: https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/comparing-maritime-versus-railway-t

I’m far from an expert, but it seems that ships win on price pretty strongly: https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/comparing-maritime-versus-railway-transportation-costs https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/comparing-mari... Apparently it’s considerably cheaper to ship coast to coast by sea even though it’s a lot farther. Rail’s big advantage there is speed. Fuel costs would hit both, but I don’t know which one would suffer more. In theory, rail could become independent of fuel costs by using electricity, but I don’t think electric trains are cost effective over such distances.