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Figure 11. U.S. marine highways (46).
· Upper Mississippi (North of Ohio River) comprised of industry members, including shippers and car-
· Lower Mississippi (South of Ohio River) riers, to make recommendations to Congress concerning the
· Ohio River prioritization of inland navigation projects. The aging infra-
· Illinois River structure and inadequacy of funding is of major concern to
· Missouri River the maritime industry.
· Arkansas-White-Red-Ouachita Rivers In terms of trust fund value, the Inland Waterway Trust
· Southeast Rivers (Tennessee, Tennessee-Tombigbee, Black Fund earned $101.5 million in fiscal year 2007. This included
Warrior-Tombigbee, Coosa, Alabama, Tri-Rivers) $91.1 million paid by the barge and towing industry and
· Gulf Intracoastal $10.4 million in interest. The Fund also disbursed $159.8 mil-
· Pacific Coast (Columbia, Snake, Sacramento, Vancouver) lion for construction projects leaving a balance of $209.4 bil-
· Unclassified. lion, its lowest level since 1993 (73).
The USACE owned or operated 257 lock chambers at 212
sites at the close of fiscal year 2005; however, only 195 sites
with 240 chambers received funding for repairs or upgrades.
3.8.4 Locks and Dams
Nineteen Fox River locks (17 locks and 2 guard locks) were
Locks are man-made structures that allow vessels to move transferred to the State of Wisconsin in 2004. Many of the 212
between higher waters backed up by a dam structure and lower lock sites serving navigation include multi-purpose dams,
waters below the dam structure. The dams work to maintain and of them, 46 lock-associated dams currently produce hydro-
navigable water levels, and the locks open and close mechan- electric power. Many of the locks west of the Mississippi River
ically to allow vessels to move up and down the river systems. have higher lifts than those in the east due to the younger age
These locks and dams are built and maintained by the USACE of the infrastructure in the western United States. For example,
under appropriations from the U.S. Congress and using the in Oregon, the John Day Lock has the highest lift (110 feet) of
Inland Waterways Trust Fund "user fee" or "user tax" on the any U.S. lock in comparison to the collective 404-foot lift
waterways industry based on fuel consumed in inland water- of all 29 locks on the upper Mississippi River (73). Table 18
way transportation. As the U.S. MARAD notes, "much of our shows the locations and characteristics of the inland water-
lock and dam infrastructure was built 5080 years ago in an way facilities.
era when vessels were much smaller" than they are today (72). Physical Infrastructure: As previously indicated, an inland
USACE is working with the Inland Waterways Users Board, port is considered to be an intermodal transportation and
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Table 18. Geographic distribution of U.S. inland the land used by a terminal company much the same as an
waterway facilities (73). industrial developer does in an industrial park. Generally,
the word "port" is meant to include the terminals in the
Great Inland Atlantic Gulf Pacific
Type of Facility
Lakes (Shallow) (Shallow) (Shallow) (Shallow) area which the authority developed and "terminal" refers to
Commercial
600 2321 587 1093 363
isolated facilities that are not in an organized port area (79).
Facilities · Inland River Terminal. Terminals are located on the water-
Cargo 378 1576 198 475 151
front for the purpose of loading and unloading barges. Each
Service 170 484 274 505 171
Unused 52 261 115 113 41 such individual terminal is an intermodal transportation
Lock Sites1 4 1 14 44 9 hub. Terminals come in three types: (i) a general purpose
Lock Chambers1 6 1 14 44 13 terminal is designed to handle a wide variety of commodi-
1
Locks, including five control structures, owned and/or operated by the USACE at the ties often in bundles, coils, large bags, drums, pallets, and
close of FY 2005. such. Most ports will have only one terminal but some large
ports may have several. Because there may be many cus-
tomers, they are also often called public terminals; (ii) spe-
distribution center. Its secondary activity is industrial pro-
cial purpose terminals are specially designed to handle only
duction and processing. The river locations are designated by
one type of commodity and they accordingly have a capac-
miles along the river so that ports and terminal locations will ity to move large tonnages rapidly. Examples are grain, fer-
be listed as being located at a particular mile post along a par- tilizer, coal, petroleum products, cement, sand and gravel,
ticular river (77). However, the physical facility is more than stone, and similar terminals, all of which can easily be iden-
just a place to load and unload barges and tankers. The inland tified by their permanent liquid or pneumatic pipeline or
port system includes railway, roadway, airway, pipeline, and conveyor system; and (iii) industrial terminals, unlike
waterway. Distribution facilities include storage structures the others, are not a part of the intermodal system but are
such as transit sheds, warehouses, open storage, tanks, and bulk designed to service a specific industrial plant or processing
storage. Table 18 shows the distribution of physical infrastruc- facility. Industrial plants at an inland port or at isolated
ture of inland waterways in the United States. terminal locations have an unusually significant beneficial
The 12,000 miles of inland waterways operate as a system effect on the local and regional job market. This, in turn,
much like highways, and commerce moves on multiple seg- has a strong effect on the economy (77).
ments. They not only serve commercial navigation but also
provide hydropower, flood protection, municipal water sup- Industry Segments: Tugboats, towboats, barges, and tankers
ply, agricultural irrigation, recreation, and regional develop- make up the inland waterway fleet of vessels that work together
ment in many cases. The Port of Louisiana stretches 54 miles to move bulk agriculture products and chemical and petro-
along the Mississippi River. It is the largest tonnage port in the leum products on the nation's waterway systems. The type of
western hemisphere and comprises facilities in St. Charles, waterway also defines the industry segment, e.g., Great Lakes,
St. John the Baptist, and St. James Parishes. In contrast, Coastal and Intracoastal, and Inland Waterways. The Center
Duluth-Superior is the largest inland port on the Great Lakes for Ports and Waterways in 2007 identified the entire inland
and is one of the premier bulk-cargo ports in North America. waterway system as including the ports, terminals, rail, and
However, its navigation season usually begins in late March truck components of moving cargo from point to point within
and continues until mid-January. the system. They note that certain types of analysis can be
Inland Waterway Operating Structures: There are 360 inland done on a system-wide level, but that when it is desirable or
commercial ports and terminals in the United States includ- necessary to focus on only certain segments, it is best to focus
ing the Great Lakes and coastal waterways (71). These inland on the Mississippi River Basin, Ohio River Basin, the Gulf
waterway systems play an important role in the distribution Intracoastal Waterway, and the Columbia-Snake River Sys-
of freight between deepwater ports and the highway and rail tem (80). In 2005, 91 percent of internal tonnage was carried
systems. Much of the cargo carried on inland waterways con- along these waterways. This report does note USACE statis-
sists of dry bulk, commodities, and fuels. Generally, distri- tics for these waterways.
bution of such cargo occurs at either an inland river port or Commerce Tonnage and Value: Activities and cargo han-
inland river terminal, which are described below. dling along the inland waterways and at the ports and termi-
nals within the system are measured over time by the amount
· Inland River Port. The IRPT Association defines an inland of tonnage carried per mile of waterway and the number of
port as a complex of adjacent or nearly adjacent terminals trips per ton-miles. It is not the value of the cargo that is a dis-
operating under some degree of influence or control by a tinguishing factor so much as the amount of tonnage handled
state (or interstate) chartered port commission or authority. over time. Table 19 lists the total tonnage, ton-miles, and trip
In most cases, the port commission/authority sells or leases ton-miles by waterway for 2006. Figure 12 shows the share of
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Table 19. Performance of inland waterways-- Other
Gulf Intracoast 5%
2006 (73). Waterway
12%
Million Billion
Length Short Billion Trip
Waterway (miles) Tons Ton-Miles Ton-Miles Columbia
Atlantic Coast 1142 2.8 0.2 0.3 Snake
6%
Gulf Coast 1992 180.9 25.3 92.1 Mississippi
Mississippi River System 8292 1508.5 412.56 1110.8 Main Stem
50%
Pacific Coast 1192 68.9 5.6 12.5
the domestic freight tonnage movements among the major
Ohio River
segments of the inland waterway system based on 2006 data. 27%
As noted previously, value is less important on the inland
waterways because so much of what moves is relatively low- Figure 12. Composition of internal tonnage by
value bulk tonnage. Some of those bulks (e.g., refined petro- waterway (million short tons) (81).
leum products, grain) can have quite high value but there are
also movements of aggregates and sand and materials with very and the military. Among the inland waterway freight com-
low unit values. Except on the Columbia-Snake River system, munity, approximately 20 percent of coal and 60 percent of
there are no significant volumes of containerized goods mov- grain exports are shipped through the inland waterway net-
ing on the inland water system (and even there it is small) so work (78). User groups such as the American Waterway Oper-
the focus on tonnage is entirely appropriate. From a national ators (AWO) track data and statistics associated with the use
systems perspective, inland water transport is significant of the nation's inland waterways. Table 21 shows the various
because of the savings it offers compared to massive truck or inland waterways stakeholder groups. The Inland Waterway
even train movements. Users Board is an independent, Federal Advisory Committee.
Types of Commodities: Table 20 lists the major waterborne The purpose of this user/stakeholder group is to formalize
commodities moved by the inland waterways in millions of recommendations to the U.S. Congress and Secretary of the
short tons and the percentage change. Army on the spending and priorities from the Inland Water-
Stakeholders: Users primarily include the navigation indus- ways Trust Fund for construction and rehabilitation projects
try, shippers, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), recreation boaters, on fuel-taxed waterways (82).
Table 20. U.S. domestic waterborne traffic by major commodities
in 2006 (73).
Coastwise Lakewise Internal
Commodity Million Million Million
% % %
Tons Tons Tons
Coal 9.8 -0.9 20.8 -1.5 177.5 -2.4
Coal Coke ** -100.0 0.4 -44.8 5.7 11.7
Crude Petroleum 36.8 -18.0 ** 0.0 32.7 -1.1
Petroleum Products 109.1 -2.6 1.5 4.4 126.9 5.2
Chemical and Related Products 9.6 -7.0 0.1 -13.9 48.9 -2.6
Forest Products (i.e., wood chips, saw) 1.9 -16.6 ** -73.8 5.0 -20.7
Pulp and Paper Waste ** -97.7 ** 0.0 ** -76.8
Sand, Gravel and Stone 8.7 3.3 25.0 -6.1 87.4 2.4
Iron Ore and Scrap 0.5 -32.0 42.9 6.4 11.2 3.4
Non-Ferrous Ores & Scrap ** ** ** 0.0 5.8 -7.4
Sulphur, Clay and Salt ** -96.4 0.9 -17.7 7.4 -2.4
Primary Manufactured Goods 10.6 17.2 4.3 10.2 30.9 0.6
Food and Farm Products 5.3 -13.3 03 4.9 73.6 3.9
All Manufactured Equipment 9.4 -2.2 0.1 ** 9.5 -3.3
Waste and Scrap, NEC ** ** ** 0.0 1.4 -1.9
** denotes tonnage less than 50,000 tons or extreme percentage change.
NEC = Not Elsewhere Classified; % = percentage change between 2005 and 2006.
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Table 21. Stakeholder groups and focus of interest for U.S. inland waterways.
Riverside/Great Related Industrial
U.S. Inland Waterways Lakes/Coastal Landside at and Economic
Pipelines
Stakeholder Groups & Intracoastal Terminal Development
Waterways Areas
1
Federal Agencies and Elected Officials X X X X
State Agencies and Elected Officials X X X X
Local Agencies and Elected Officials X X X
Public Citizens and Neighborhood
X X X X
Organizations
Port Authorities X X X X
Terminal Operator X X X X
Carriers X X X
Shippers X x X X
Labor--Unionized X X X X
Labor--Non-Union X X
Railroads X X
Trucking Companies X X
Customs Brokers X X
Logistic Providers X X X
Insurance Providers X X X X
Warehousing X
Grain and Raw Material Elevator Operators X X
Fuel Suppliers X X X
Petrochemical and Petroleum Industry X X X X
Maintenance Companies X
Engineers X X X
Security Firms X X X
Technology Firms X X X X
Pilots X
Tribal Organizations X X
1
- Federal agencies include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which monitors commodity prices and
production levels
Industry Employment: In 2006, the Bureau of Labor Sta- cent of the inland waterway industry employment, while the
tistics (BLS) reported 22,540 occupations associated within remaining 24.2 percent consist of occupations associated
the Inland Waterway Transportation industry. The indus- with management, business operations, sales operations,
try grew by 1,450 more occupations in 2007. Transportation installation and maintenance, administration, and service-
and material moving occupations make up about 75.8 per- related occupations (76).
