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Show It is considered that they represent what may be expected from soundly conceived and well-operated waterway improvements. (&) Waterways such as the Illinois and the upper Mississippi are examples of waterways which have been started and placed in operation during the period under consideration. Traffic has developed slowly under certain difficulties, but is now in excess of commerce anticipated when the projects were authorized, and the waterways are producing benefits far in excess of costs. (c) The Missouri and Columbia River projects repre- sent a still earlier stage in the development of major navi- gation improvements. Both of these waterways are in- tegral parts of comprehensive plans of water resources development for their respective basins, and works for navigation also serve other water resources purposes. In both cases project dimensions have not yet been obtained and only a small part of anticipated waterborne commerce has had an opportunity to develop. It is believed that traffic and na'vigation benefits on these waterways will develop as anticipated, as they have done on other similar improvements. (d) The Onachita River improvement in its present state is an example of those inland navigation projects which, due to changing economic conditions or other rea- sons, have failed to develop or maintain anticipated water- borne commerce. Such uneconomic projects represent less than 10 percent of the cost of the total inland water- way program to June 30, 1948; and the Corps of Engi- neers expends only minimum amounts for caretaking and maintenance for those waterways. 7. Traffic.----(a) Volume.-Data on waterborne com- merce on the L 5 major waterways, expressed in short tons and ton-miles, liave been compiled from the annual reports of the Corps o£ Engineers for the 20-year period, 1929-48 inclusive, insofar as records are available in comparable form. During the earlier years of this period it has been necessary to omit traffic figures for certain waterways to avoid duplications inherent in the earlier records, which broke down traffic by short reaches of river. In most cases records cover the entire 20-year period, while for others the records vary from 12 to 15 years. The cargo traffic on the 15 selected waterways, compared with the total inland waterway traffic reported for the period, is as follows: Cargo traffic in thousands of ton-miles: Total for period: 15 waterways________________244, 200, 000 All other waterways___________ 93, 800, 000 Total____________________ 338, 000, 000 Current, L948: 15 waterways________________ 29, 195, 000 All other waterways___________ 7, 268, 000 Total____________________ 36, 463, 000 Average annual : 15 waterways________________ 12, 210, 000 All other waterways___________ 4, 690, 000 Total____________________ 16, 900, 000 (&) A sigifcificant survey of commodity movements would involve a breakdown by ton-miles; space permits reference to only a few representative cases. For instance, sand and gravel accounted for 14 percent of the total moved during the period, according to the best estimate that could be made. The ton-mileage, however, of this essential short-haul commodity consiituted only about 1 percent of the total ton-mile cargo movement on the 15 waterways during the 20-year period. On the other hand the movement of petroleum products accounted for about 21 percent of the barge-borne tonnage, but constituted 52 percent of the ton-mileage. Similiarly, manufactured iron and steel products represented only 3.5 percent of the tonnage, but accounted for over 8.5 percent of the total ton-mileage on these waterways. 8. Transportation Benefits.-(a) Method of Analysis.- In order to obtain a reasonable estimate of transportation savings which obtained on the 15 waterways during the 20-year period, analysis was made of the principal com- modities conveyed and of representative cargo move- ments, as well as of rail rates and waterway costs applica- ble to such commodities and movements. Fluctuations in rail and truck rate levels and in barge- and pipe-line service cost levels during the period under analysis were estab- lished from the comprehensive files of the Board of Engi- neers for Rivers and Harbors; and the difference between the water transportation charges and those that would have applied by the cheapest alternative means were ¦ developed as unit savings per ton-mile of water route. Full barge line service costs plus reasonable profit were used for comparison in place of common carrier tariff rates because the great preponderance of the barge-borne freight is known to have moved by contract and industry- owned carrier services. The unit savings thus derived were applied to the estimated ton-mileages of the various commodities for each of the selected waterways for each year of the period, and the results are given as annual transportation savings in summary form in table 1. In view of the time requirements, it was not attempted to establish the average length of haul of each of the principal commodity movements by actual computation, but such averages were estimated in accordance with the knowledge and judgment of the Board's experienced staff of water transportation analysts. The estimates of savings differ from various published analyses of waterway transportation principally in the use of normal competitive rates for comparison, rather than rates already depressed to meet waterway competition, as giving a truer measure of savings to the public. This study involved analysis of more than 800 normal and "water-compelled" rates on representative movements throughout the period. Every effort was made to present a fair and conservative estimate of savings. Rafted freight, for example, was disregarded in computing sav- ings, as deriving no benefit from channel improvements; and water movements believed to originate or terminate at off-river points were penalized for circuity and by in- cluding ample charges for the extra terminal handling and switching required. A detailed study to obtain the exact savings which have resulted from these waterways would require much more time than has been available for this analysis, and would be very difficult because of lack of detailed and comparable records for the early years. It is believed, however, that this analysis, though concededly approximate in nature, gives a fair general picture of the economic value of the waterway program. 422 |