quote:
The freight-bearing US waterway system, plagued by age and breakdowns, is saddling the many companies that rely on the network with a growing number of supply disruptions and added costs.While some consider it an anachronism in the age of e-commerce, the system remains vital to a broad swath of the economy, carrying everything from jet fuel and coal to salt and the wax for coating milk cartons. The network stretches 19,000 kilometres (sic)...
...unusually heavy winter rains swelled rivers and caused a series of accidents, including one one the Ohio River in which a towboat pushing six barges sank after passing through a lock...
...Three crewman were killed, a fourth is still missing...
...The US Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees and maintains the waterways...
..."Many of the facilities are at the fatigue point now, where they need major rehabilitations," says David Grier, a navigation analyst at the Institute for Water Resources, part of the Army Corps of Engineers.
It does seem kinda strange to think in terms of waterways as important to the economy, but in the US waterways provide transport for 13% of US intercity freight.
According to the story, moving things by barge costs only a tenth of using trucks, and 2/3rds of that of rail.
Just another indicator of an economy that is gradually dying.