THE U.S. COULD LOSE A MAJOR PORTION OF THE BENEFIT OF THE NEW PANAMA CANAL IF WE DO NOT FINALLY REPAIR AND REPLACE AS NEEDED OUR INLAND WATERWAYS INFRASTRUCTURE

INLAND WATERWAYS INEFFICIENCIES THREATEN EXPORT BULK COMMODITY MOVEMENT THROUGH GULF PORTS

Editor's note: 4/29/2015 Senator John McCain as of this date continues to attempt to repeal the Jones Act and no real action by Congress or the administration has been undertaken to reverese the situation as we observed it 2013. 

Just one of these big export bulk carriers with grain or export coal.

Photo by Aussie Legend 2007 (PD)

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The new deeper, wider Panama Canal is coming http://americanadmiraltybooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-coming-new-panama-canal-posted.html.

But can we deliver our export grain to tide water efficiently enough? The key is our inland water ways. The system has problems. For once a national news outlet has noticed . USA TODAY has the story: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-05-20/creaking-infrastructure/55096396/1

"Inland waterways quietly keep the nation's economy flowing as they transport $180 billion of coal, steel, chemicals and other goods each year — a sixth of U.S. freight — across 38 states. Yet, an antiquated system of locks and dams threatens the timely delivery of those goods daily.

Locks and dams raise or lower barges from one water level to the next, but breakdowns are frequent. For example, the main chamber at a lock on the Ohio Rivernear Warsaw, Ky., is being fixed. Maneuvering 15-barge tows into a much smaller backup chamber has increased the average delay at the lock from 40 minutes to 20 hours, including waiting time.

The outage, which began last July and is expected to end in August, will cost American Electric Power and its customers $5.5 million as the utility ferries coal and other supplies along the river for itself and other businesses, says AEP senior manager Marty Hettel.

As the economy picks up, the nation's creaking infrastructure will increasingly struggle to handle the load. That will make products more expensive as businesses pay more for shipping or maneuver around roadblocks, and it will cause the nation to lose exports to other countries — both of which are expected to hamper the recovery."

Read the entire story at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-05-20/creaking-infrastructure/55096396/1

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