Another, more fuel efficient way to move cargo - river barges.
Some quotes from a
recent barge market report:
On the Mississippi River system a single 200' x 35' x 12' inland river hopper barge (either open or closed) is capable of carrying 1,750 short tons of dry cargo which is the equivalent of 16 railcars or 70 semi-tractor/trailers. It will take 144 semi-tractor/trailers or 46 rail cars to replace a single 300' x 54', 27,500bbl tank barge hauling liquid bulk cargoes. Forty-one U.S. states, 16 state capitals and all states east of the Mississippi River are served by commercially navigable waterways. Railroads are 28.3% less fuel efficient than the U.S. inland waterway freight transportation system, based on revenue ton-miles per gallon - and the railroads are even more efficient than trucks.
Ton-Miles/Gallon
Inland Towing 576
Railroads 413
Truck 155
The 12,000nm of U.S. inland and Intracoastal waterways, like highways, operate as a system, and much of the commerce moves on multiple segments. They serve as connecting arteries, much like neighborhood streets help people reach interstate highways. Over 1,023.5 million short tons of total commodities were on the inland and coastal waters of the U.S. in 2006, down 0.5% from 2005 and most of this was carried by barge. As of 31st December 2006 (with updates thru 30th August 2007) the U.S. fleet consisted of a total of 32,211 dry, deck, tank and other barges, up 159 barges over 2005.
Barges range from under 10' in length for sectional units up to almost 1,000' in length and capable of performing myriads of chores including cargo transport, pipelay, heavy-lift, water-desalinization, power generation and offshore floating production / storage.
In the United States, there were 23,281 freight and 4,370 tank barges documented with the U.S. Coast Guard as of July 2008, in addition to an estimated 10,000+ undocumented barges of various sizes in service.
Flat deck barges carry cargoes on deck such as containers, gravel, construction equipment, multi-million dollar project cargoes and rolling stock. Most of the barges are single deck, although there are house, double and even triple deck ro/ro barges in service. According to the U.S. Maritime Administration, as of 31st December 2006 there were 5,492 deck barges in service in the U.S. with close to half over 25 years of age. In addition there are 154 "other dry cargo" barges that includes barges that may be open or covered, railroad car, pontoon, Ro-Ro, container or convertible - again with close to half of the barges 25 years or older.
Hopper barges are designed to carry dry bulk cargoes such as grains, coal, ore or packaged goods in one or more holds similar to a ship. These holds can be either covered or open without hatch covers. As of 31st December 2006 there were 13,062 dry covered, 8,673 dry open hopper barges in the U.S. fleet according the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 1,460 of the covered and 1,697 of the open barges were built within the previous five years. 36.4% of the covered and 19.1% open are older than 25 years of age. It is generally calculated that inland river hopper barges have a useful life of 25 to 30 years.
Demand for coastwise transportation has fluctuated over the years, however petroleum and chemical products have always been a significant portion of domestic trade, representing 41.9% of all commodities carried in U.S. waters during 2006. Tank barges have been built from abt. 40' in length to over 600', with capacities from under 18,000 gallons to over 17,500,000 gallons (417,000bbl) of liquid cargo. As of 31st December 2006, 13.2% or 4,250 of the 32,211 barges in U.S. trade were in tank service.