INLAND WATERWAYS

The Barriers to the Greater Use of Inland Waterways Transport

The Barriers to the Greater Use of Inland Waterways Transport

Introduction

Inland waterways are all navigable roads that serve the general shipping, called inland. Under navigable roads means both major rivers and canals. The United Kingdom has over 4000 miles of inland waterways. Many canals were built throughout Western Europe. The construction of the first navigation canal in France, the Canal de Briare, was completed around 1610 to link the Loire and Seine rivers. It was about 27 miles (43 km) in length. The Canal du Midi, completed in 1681 during the reign of Louis XIV, was the largest construction project in Europe up to that time. France developed approximately 3000 miles (4800 km) of artificial canals that interconnected with 4600 miles (7400 km) of navigable rivers. On the Thames River in England, sluice gates were often used to maintain adequate water levels for navigation. These gates channel water to one side of a river to increase depths for navigation purposes (Waterways Journal, 2011). This paper discusses the barriers to the greater use of Inland Waterways Transport. It also provides examples where companies have moved freight from road to Inland Waterways and what were the drivers for this change.

Background

England's geography is diverse, and canals often pushed through well-populated areas. Thus, man-made obstacles as well as valleys, rugged hills, and changes in water levels at the junctions of rivers and canals tested the ingenuity of eighteenth-century engineers like Brindley and William Jessop (1745-1814), whose Grand Junction Canal sliced through the Chiltern hills. The innovations builders devised to meet the challenges of the landscape included locks, tunnels, and bridges and aqueducts (Alperin 2003, 25).

England's geography is diverse, and canals often pushed through well-populated areas. Thus, man-made obstacles as well as valleys, rugged hills, and changes in water levels at the junctions of rivers and canals tested the ingenuity of eighteenth-century engineers like Brindley and William Jessop (1745-1814), whose Grand Junction Canal sliced through the Chiltern hills. The innovations builders devised to meet the challenges of the landscape included locks, tunnels, and bridges and aqueducts (Alperin 2003, 25). Major river systems are the most common form of freshwater waterways used for shipping. A river system is made up of a major river and all of its tributaries, the smaller rivers or creeks that feed into the main river. Lake systems are also often used to ship goods. In the United States, for example, there are two main freshwater systems that are used for shipping, the Mississippi-Missouri river system and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system. The Mississippi-Missouri river system allows shipping in the Midwest and Southeast. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system serves the Midwest and northeastern United States and part of eastern Canada. Over 75% of all materials shipped over freshwater waterways in the United States are shipped on either the Mississippi-Missouri river system or the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system (Stine 2003, 73).

Other smaller river systems are also used for shipping in the United ...