Barges
Barges on canals contended with the railway
in the early industrial revolution but were out competed in the carriage
of high value items due to the higher speed, falling costs, and route
flexibility of rail transport. A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built
mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Most barges are
not self-propelled and need to be moved by tugboats towing or towboats
pushing them.
Barges are still used today for low value bulk items, as the cost of
hauling goods by barge is very low. Barges are also used for very heavy
or bulky items; a typical barge measures 195 feet by 35 feet (59.4 meters
by 10.6 meters), and can carry up to 1500 tons of cargo. As an example,
on June 26, 2006, a 565 ton catalytic cracking unit reactor was shipped
from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma to a refinery in Pascagoula,
Mississippi.
While such parts are normally
shipped in sections and assembled onsite, shipping the assembled unit
reduces costs and does not rely on availability of construction labor
at the site (which in this case is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina).
Such a large item is not practical to transport over land for any significant
distance and will need to be transported only 40 miles overland to get
from the port to the refinery.
Self propelled barges may
be used as such when traveling downstream or upstream in placid waters
and operated as an un-powered barge with the assistance of a tugboat
when traveling upstream in faster waters. Canal barges are usually made
for the particular canal in which they will operate.
In the U.S. deckhands perform
the labor and are supervised by a lead man and or the mate. The Captain
and Pilot steer the towboat. The towboat pushes one or more barges that
are held together with rigging and is called collectively the tow. The
crew live aboard the towboat as it travels along the inland river system
and or the intra-coastal waterways. These towboats travel between ports
and are also called line haul boats.
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