Editorial: Old World Country Ideas On Canals Worth Exploring

The United States could take a serious look at what Europeans think about their waterways and perhaps benefit by it.

In our quest to convince government and people in general that the waterways infrastructure of our country is worth maintaining and modernizing, we have cited events in Europe. The European Union (EU) is stressing the importance of commercial water transportation to unclog busy highways in particular and improve the quality of life in general. Grants are available to transporters who adjust operations to utilize water transportation.

There are financial benefits to be gained by European shippers who use low-cost water transportation as the mode helps to make their products more competitive in world markets. But Europe is not the only place where waterways are being improved.

Last week in the WJ readers were informed that 30 barges and two towboats were shipped recently to Argentina, where they will be put to use on the Parana/Paraguay river system. South America is a country with overflowing grain bins. The more efficiently they can get their product to tidewater, the tougher competitors they are in world markets. This move to improve South American waterways and to buy vessels from the U.S. has been going on for years.

But there is another side to the Old World story. Europeans are promoting the social and economic benefits of waterway tourism from Limerick, Ireland, all the way to Kiev, Russia. There are 6,300,000 boats in EU, one for every 73 people in a population of 460 million. There are 6,000 cruisers for weekly hire, 1,000 for daylong excursions, 200 hotel barges (accommodating up to 10 passengers) and 120 high capacity cruise ships. According to a brochure promoting the waterway benefits of tourism, it has been calculated that tourists spend from 50 to 100 Euros per day per person. (A Euro is worth about $1.29 plus or minus a few cents.)

“Inland waterways in Europe account for a significant proportion of the economic contribution of the recreational boating industry,” the brochure says. “This sector of the industry represents turnover in excess of 4.5 billion Euros, more than 40,000 employed directly and many more in indirectly linked employment.

As one European waterway leader said, “The European Union boasts over 40,000 km. of waterways, which transport over 125,000 million tonne-kilometres of goods and attract millions of visitors a year.” It is estimated that 60 percent of the population of the EU lives within 15 km. of a navigable inland waterway.

We know that European waterways and U.S. waterways are horses of a different color. Many of their canals are small and ancient. Some still need to be modernized (Where have we heard that before?). Many are only able to accommodate boats much smaller than our larger U.S. waterways can accommodate. But many have been modernized as Europeans have come to realize the benefits the waterways afford in the area of tourism. Entire areas have been revived financially by development of good tourism business, with passengers from canal boats stopping off along the canal cities to explore and spend.

Europeans, too, have their environmental critics. But still old canals are being reinvigorated by dredging and other means. We’re talking big bucks. The entire canal system in Scotland has been renovated. A new technological wonder was created to accommodate what we would refer to as locking. But some background is in order.

The Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde canals meet at Falkirk. The difference in the water level of the two canals is 115 feet. Long ago 11 locks were used to move boats between the two levels. But rebuilding of the locks was considered too expensive. So engineering genius was put to work and voilà! The Falkirk Wheel was designed. While it bears no resemblance to a rollo plane seen at carnivals, it operates like one. When one pair of boats are at the top, two are at the bottom, all arriving at their destination at the same time. It takes only 15 minutes to complete the cycle.

We are well aware that many U.S. waterways do not lend themselves to the same tourist treatment, as do European canals. And we do accomplish similar ends with riverboats that travel from community to community on extended cruises. But there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of river towns that could brighten up their riverfronts to make them a genuine pleasure to visit. Maritime promoters, both those in the recreational boating business and those in commercial navigation, could cooperate more in an effort to share waterways that really don’t belong to either of them. The potential is so great.

Those who read Heartland Boating, a publication of The Waterways Journal Inc., know that water activities offer a great attraction. The number of recreational boats in the United States is astounding. The number of organizations to belong to if you are a recreational boater is astounding as well. And it is big business.

Do Europeans care about their waterways more than we do? Maybe. But for sure they are working diligently to make it possible for everyone to travel on them as inexpensively as possible. They recognize the economic benefit.

Is it possible that we fight over waterways too much and spend to little time working together to gain both enjoyment and economic benefits from them? Just something to ponder.

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