fastlane
the forgotten mode
AS ONE WHO LIVES IN A “RIVER TOWN” (MEMPHIS,
Tenn.), I am constantly reminded of a mode of transportation that we usually don’t hear much about—the
internal waterway system, a 25,000-mile water highway
serving vast swaths of the United States. As the battle for
transportation funds continues in Washington, I think
it is important that this very necessary transportation
system not be forgotten.
There was a time when the nation relied on inland
waterways as its main conduit for commerce. Water
transportation was already highly developed in many
parts of the world when the first European settlers
arrived in this country, and they quickly adopted the
same techniques in their new home. The first recorded
shipment down the Mississippi River was a load of
15,000 bear and deer hides in 1705, but it wasn’t until
1790 that flatboats and keelboats came into use on a
regular basis. These wood-plank boats, which measured
up to 80 feet long by 10 feet wide, were rowed or poled
downstream to their destination. Upon arrival, the
boats were sold for wood—they obviously couldn’t be
moved back upstream with nothing but oars and poles
to power them.
While there were some innovations over the next
hundred or so years, it was Robert Fulton’s invention of
the steamboat in 1807 that made waterway transportation a commercial success. By 1931, there was a diesel-powered prototype of the modern towboat.
Today, there are two basic kinds of equipment used in
domestic water commerce—the towboat and the barge.
Towboats, which are used primarily in river commerce,
have flat bottoms and a series of six rudders that provide the maneuverability needed in relatively shallow
water. They derive their name from the load they push,
or the “tow.” Modern towboats vary in length from 40 to
200 feet and can be anywhere from 20 to 50 feet wide,
depending on where they’re used. They range from 600
to over 10,000 horsepower and feature the latest in navigation and communication tools.
The barges that contain the cargo are typically about
200 feet long and 35 feet wide, and also have flat bottoms. There are three basic types: the inland liquid
cargo tank barge, the open dry cargo barge, and the covered dry cargo barge. There are about 18,000 barges in
use in the country today.
While today’s equipment may reflect the latest
advances in technology, the inland waterways infra-
structure is a different matter. The river system, espe-
cially the Mississippi, is a constantly changing mosaic
with ebbs and flows, high water and low. The banks
move, the channels shift, and new islands are formed
while others disappear. In the words of Mark Twain,
“The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no
engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise.” As a
result, maintenance and reconstruction are never-end-
ing tasks.
Clifford F. Lynch is principal of C.F. Lynch & Associates, a provider of logistics management
advisory services, and author of Logistics Outsourcing – A Management Guide and co-author
of The Role of Transportation in the Supply Chain. He can be reached at cliff@cflynch.com.
