Search
 

Water: The Oldest Means of Transportation

Adjusters must be prepared to handle water transportation claims, whether they involve a bass boat with an out-board motor or an oil tanker with a multi-million dollar cargo.

By Ken Brownlee, CPCU | Updated on February 25, 2013
There are a few isolated states that do not, in one way or another, depend on a river, canal, or harbor as part of their transportation infrastructure. There is virtually no navigation on the Colorado or Rio Grande Rivers in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah or Colorado, and regular steamboat service doesn’t get as far up the Missouri to Montana as it once did; however, for most other states their rivers, harbors and barge canals are vital.

On that recent trip discussed earlier in this series, one destination was the old Erie Canal and its often side-by-side companion, the New York State Barge Canal. On that same trip, we crossed seven other remnants of New York canals that once served as the state’s key means of transport before railroads. My wife and I watched large boats lifted through canal locks, saw barges on the Hudson, crossed canals in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Connecticut, and visited a number of Pennsylvania and Maryland canals, some of which are now national parks. In Indiana, we made a donation of books to the Wabash & Erie Canal Park in Delphi. The Illinois State Barge Canal is often in the news, not related to shipping, but because of large foreign carp that migrate up the Mississippi and Illinois River and then enter the Great Lakes, devastating local game fish. 

Vital Shipping LanesDrought nearly closed the Mississippi to navigation last summer; only a very wet Hurricane Isaac in September refloated marooned tugs and barges. The nation’s river systems are vitally important shipping lanes, including the Ohio/Missouri/Illinois/Arkansas/Tennessee Rivers and their navigable tributaries, along with the Susquehanna, James, St. John, Sacramento, Hudson, Columbia and other river systems that supply cheap transport of coal, grain and other products to and from up-stream cities. Perhaps the most important of these systems is the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway—the North Coast—with all its city harbors in both Canada and the U.S., from Duluth and Chicago to Buffalo and Rochester. These lakes and their connecting rivers and canals (the Sault Ste. Marie, the Welland, and so on) are vital to landlocked cities otherwise limited to land transportation such as road and rail. 

Consider the major U.S. harbors used for international transport, shipping U. S. raw materials to other nations and handling intermodal shipments to and from foreign ports. Were the Ports of Los Angeles (San Pedro and Long Beach), San Francisco Bay, Portland and Seattle unavailable, Asian goods would cost far more, being transported through the Panama Canal to Gulf or Atlantic harbors. 

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free
PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader.

INCLUDED IN A DIGITAL MEMBERSHIP:

  • All PropertyCasualty360.com news coverage, best practices, and in-depth analysis.
  • Educational webcasts, resources from industry leaders, and informative newsletters.
  • Other award-winning websites including BenefitsPRO.com and ThinkAdvisor.com.

Already have an account?

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Recommended Stories

PropertyCasualty360

Join PropertyCasualty360

Don’t miss crucial news and insights you need to make informed decisions for your P&C insurance business. Join PropertyCasualty360.com now!

  • Unlimited access to PropertyCasualty360.com - your roadmap to thriving in a disrupted environment
  • Access to other award-winning ALM websites including BenefitsPRO.com, ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
  • Exclusive discounts on PropertyCasualty360, National Underwriter, Claims and ALM events

Already have an account? Sign In Now
Join PropertyCasualty360

Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.