opened in 1869, shortening the sea routes between Europe and the Far
East by 16 000 km; nowadays it is used by 15 000 ships/year including
150 000 t oil tankers. The 80 km long Panama canal, opened in 1914, links
the Atlantic and the Pacific by a 13 km long and 153 m wide cut through
the Continental Divide and a large artificial lake with three locks at the
entrance and exit of the canal with a total lift of 26 m.
The present great European network of inland waterways is based on
modernized and expanded 19th century navigation facilities. The same
applies to the navigation facilities on the great American waterways, e.g. on
the Mississippi and the Ohio River. Although in the 20th century inland
waterways often could not compete with the railway and later motorway
networks, they retained – and even increased – their rôle in the provision of
a highly effective means of transport, particularly of bulk material.
The role of inland waterways in water resources management in the
provision of modern recreational facilities and in the enhancement of the
environment further contributed to this new perception.
In spite of the rapid development of other modes of transport there
are some universally valid advantages in transport by inland navigation
(Cˇábelka and Gabriel, 1985):- low energy requirements (the specific energy consumption for navi-
gation is about 80% of that for rail and less than 30% of the con-
sumption for road transport); - high productivity of labour per unit of transport output;
- low material requirement per unit of transport volume (the corre-
sponding values of rail and highway transport are two and four times
higher respectively); - lowest interference with the environment (low noise, low exhaust
fume generation); - very low land requirement (in the case of navigable rivers);
- low accident incidence in comparison with other transport modes;
- capability of easily transporting bulk cargo and large industrial
products.
The detailed discussion of modes of transport on inland waterways and
design and operation of associated hydraulic structures assumes that the
reader is familiar with the concepts and equations of open-channel flow
and at least some river engineering works, as discussed in Chapter 8.