Britain looks set for a renaissance of its waterways, as a direct result of the continued rise in fuel prices, growing traffic jams and environmental pressures. The long-neglected latticework of canals and rivers that were at the fore of the industrial revolution are undergoing a revival!

Apparently there is such a boom that shipping and barge companies have received more enquiries about transporting goods by water in the past 18 months than in the last 20 years. Companies that have traditionally used roads are now moving on to water. And it’s the truck companies that are leading the way.

Eddie Stobart, one of the country's biggest road-haulage firms, has invested in a port on the Manchester Ship Canal and plans to expand its waterways routes. "It might seem odd that one of the goals of Britain's biggest branded truck company is to get trucks off the road, but that is exactly what we are trying to do," Julie Gaskell, a spokeswoman for the firm, said.

Several major companies, including Tesco and Sainsbury's, have already switched thousands of tons of freight on to ships and barges, while the international courier firm DHL is looking to move urgent mail from central London to Heathrow by speedboat to avoid congestion in the capital. Tesco transports new world wine by sea and water to its bottling plant at Irlam on the Manchester Ship Canal. The scheme, which involves three journeys a week and moves an estimated 600,000 litres of wine along a 40-mile stretch of the canal from Liverpool to Manchester, takes 50 lorries off the roads each week. Tesco says it plans to expand the scheme, saving an estimated 3,500 lorry movements by the year's end.

Despite such moves to water, industry experts say the potential is being frustrated by a lack of planning and imagination by the Government, local authorities and British Waterways, the body which runs much of the UK's canal network.

British Waterways regards itself primarily as a "heritage and leisure organisation", and critics say it fails to give sufficient priority to freight. Vital wharves are being sold for waterfront development schemes, according to transport experts. [independent] & [peakenergyblogspot]