Inland Waterways Of The United States
By DR. AB THAPA
Few years back Nepal and India had signed an agreement to conduct a detailed feasibility study to develop Kosi Canal Waterway linking Nepal with the seaport Soon after that another agreement had also been signed to carry out joint studies to develop Karnali and Gandak navigation. A special joint committee composed of nine members of each country has already been constituted to conduct the Gandak and Karnali navigation studies.
In the United States, inland navigation is highly developed. The experience of the USA in dealing with the problems of the development of the water transport could be very useful for the development of inland waterways leading to seaport outlet for Nepal.
United States had 25,380 miles of usable navigable inland channels, exclusive of the Great Lakes in second half of the 20 th Century . A nine foot operating depth is standard for these inland channels. Of the 25,380 miles, a total of 15,348 miles have a depth of nine foot or more. The remaining 10,032 miles is under nine-foot depth. Except for the 522 mile New York State Barge Canal all these waterways are Federal Projects.
With the exception of the Upper Mississippi Waterway, the Missouri River and New York State Barge Canal, all the inland channels are open to navigation the year round. Icing conditions close the above three waterways for about four months of the year- December through March. At times, ice forms on the Illinois Waterway, the Mississippi above St. Louis, and on the Ohio River, but seldom impedes navigation for any length of time.
With two notable exceptions the channels are slack water routes which have been improved for navigation by the construction of systems of locks and dams. The Mississippi is open river for 1,000 miles south of St. Louis. The Missouri is open river. Yet the two present a striking difference. The Mississippi is a wide, deep, commodious river. The Missouri has a restricted seven-foot depth. Both the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways are largely open channels, although both have some locks and both have reaches that are exposed to tidal currents and winds.
Introduction of Steamboats
In the United States of America, development of river transportation began as early as 1782. The introduction of steam propulsion in the beginning of the 19 th Century gave further encouragement to inland navigation. In 1811, just four years after the invention of the steamboats, the river steamer NEW ORLEA NS was launched at Pittsburgh and went into service between there and New Orleans. By 1836, river steamboats were making calls at New Orleans at the rate of 1,000 per year. By 1852, the public landing at Cincinnati was reporting river steamboat calls at an annual rate of 8,000, about one per hour.
Traffic on the inland waterways expanded so rapidly with development of the steamboat that Congress acted in 1824 to improve the rivers and harbors on a planned basis. The President was authorized to utilize the services of the Army Corps of Engineers for this work. Ever since that time, the Corps has had responsibility for the planning, improving, and maintaining of the nation’s navigable waters, including harbors.
Water transport through the Great Lakes also developed when grains and iron ore regions were opened up. The Canals constituted another means of transportation and with the success of Erie Canal in 1825, canal construction developed into a speculative boom.
River Transportation in Decline
During the War Between the States, there was a constant struggle for control of the rivers and coastal waters serving the areas of conflict. Traffic in these waters was brought to a virtual standstill. Hundreds of steamboats were burned.
For all practical purposes, river transportation was not rebuilt. One of the reasons was the emergence of the railroads as the dominant form of transportation. In 1850 there were only 9,000 miles of rail lines in the United States; by 1890 the railway track length had increased to almost 164,000 miles. Of devastating significance was the railroads’ entry into water transportation. They bought up river lines and lake lines. They even bought some privately owned canal. Their purpose was not to promote water transportation, but to destroy it. The railroads used some water shipping lines as fighting ships to bleed competing water lines to death economically. Others were bought to let the vessels rot at their docks. And the docks and terminals rotted with them. Railroad-purchased canal were relegated to disuse.
After 1880 water transport except on the Great Lakes rapidly declined. By the end of the century steam vessels had practically disappeared from the rivers following the development of Railways.
Panama Canal Act
The railroads’ tactics to destroy river transportation finally attracted the attention of Congress. . President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the Inland Waterways Commission in 1907 to study the status of waterways and water carriers. This Commission recommended in 1908 that Congress make more suitable provision for improving the inland waterways of the United States.
The Panama Canal Act was passed in 1912 to divorce railroads from ownership of water carriers. This Act is considered by historians as the legislative keystone of the revival of inland waterways transportation. It prohibits railroads from owning, controlling or operating a water carrier that operates through the Panama Canal or elsewhere, provided, however, that in the case of a water carrier not operating through the Panama Canal authority is conferred upon the Interstate Commerce Commission to make a determination as to whether such ownership or operation will be in the public interest and will not exclude, prevent or reduce competition on the route.
In 1959-1962 a major test of the Act was made. The Illinois Central and Southern Pacific Railroads in 1959 filed an application with the Interstate Commerce Commission seeking approval to acquire the John I. Hay Company barge line, a major common carrier operating on the Mississippi River system and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This was the first major effort by railroads to invade domestic water carrier operations since the passage of the Panama Canal Act. The American Waterways Operators, Inc., opposed the application, as did other interests. In 1962, ICC denied the application in a decision reaffirming the established public policy of separation of ownership and operation of the various transport modes.
Revival of River Transportation
A bold policy of active participation of the Government after the first World War had resulted not only in rehabilitating water transport but developing it as an essential mode for the economic development of the country. The opening of the St. Lawrence seaway may be quoted as an example of the policy adopted by the United States and Canadian Governments. Harnessing the Mississippi system and stabilizing the Channels is another example of the systematic planning and hard work done by the United States Engineers backed by the technical and financial resources of a prosperous country.
Since 1920 the United States of America has implemented plans to create and develop about 28,000 miles of waterways, 10,000 miles of which take over 9 feet draft. The resulting benefit to the country of this extensive development of waterways can be gauged from the fact that the annual traffic carried on these waterways exclusive of the Great Lakes increased from 9,233,362,320 ton miles in 1931 to 97,662,567,000 ton miles in 1955.
Modern Technology
Water transport in the United States has undergone phenomenal changes in recent years as both the Federal and State Governments now fully appreciate the part that inland water transport can and does play in the development of an integrated transport system geared to the overall requirements of the country. Power units have been made more efficient and economical through improvements in craft design and improved methods of propulsion and towage. Considerable progress has been made in the development of articulated push-tows. Transportation needs of steel mills, cement factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, coal mines and numerous other industries are being met by these huge integrated river tows, some of which are longer than the largest ocean freighters and tankers.
Even in the early days, inland water transport was considered cheap, but, with the extensive progress that has been made in recent years in respect of craft design, etc, it has now come to be recognized as the cheapest form of transport. It is interesting to note that currently 15 percent of the total transport requirements of the United States is handled by this mode of transport.
(Dr. Thapa writes on water resources)
Setback To Campaign To Control Small Arms
The UN world conference on small arms has collapsed without agreement, despite the majority of governments, including the European Union, and many African and Latin American governments, backing tougher controls on the international trade in small arms and light weapons, according to Amnesty International.
“The conference, which ended on Friday 7 July, collapsed after a small number of states, most prominently the United States, blocked key issues so consistently that no agreement was possible.”
During the conference, moves to agree global controls on the small arms trade were blocked by Cuba, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan, said the statement.
“The world has been held hostage by a tiny minority of countries. At the current rate, up to 12,000 people will have been killed by small arms during this two-week conference. They have been betrayed,” said Anna Macdonald, Oxfam International’s Control Arms Campaign manager.
The Control Arms Campaign is now taking its call for tougher global arms controls to the UN General Assembly in October. There, decisions are frequently put to a vote meaning that a small minority of governments cannot block progress. Several governments have already indicated that they want a resolution to be put to the UN General Assembly first committee calling for negotiations to begin on a legally-binding global Arms Trade Treaty.
“The world desperately needs a tough and well-enforced Arms Trade Treaty to stop the present flow of weaponry to serious abusers of human rights,” said Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s research manager for the arms trade.
The Control Arms Campaign has called on the governments to establish such a treaty and to agree global guidelines for small arms sales to stop weapons fuelling human rights abuses and poverty around the world.
‘By allowing this meeting to fail, governments have squandered the opportunity to take action that would have saved lives around the world. It is unacceptable for two weeks of talking to produce no outcome, particularly when 1000 people are still dying at gunpoint every day ,’ said Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA.
Over one million people from 160 countries backed the Campaign by joining the Million Faces Petition, which was presented to UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on the first day of the conference, Monday 26 June.
