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The Washington Post Letter to the Editor

January 27, 2000

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

The "Rivers of No Return" series run in The Washington Post on January 9-10, 2000 presented a distorted and misleading picture of the American barge industry. By focusing on a few specific projects, the series overlooked the broad benefits of the barge industry as a whole. As the national association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, the American Waterways Operators (AWO) would like to set the record straight with respect to these inaccuracies. We also submit that one of the greatest weaknesses of the series was the significant absence of critical information required for a balanced presentation of the facts. We aim to fill that void as well.

First, the series misrepresented the financial contribution that the barge industry makes to the development and modernization of the waterways system. The representation that barge owners only pay 1/8 of system costs could only be derived by using the entirety of the waterways system costs without acknowledging that these costs are driven by the system's multi-purpose beneficiaries: flood protection, water supply, bank stabilization, hydropower and recreation. The series also never acknowledged that barges in fact pay fully ½ of lock and dam modernization and renovation through fuel taxes which exceed $100 million per year.

Another serious misimpression created by the piece concerns the efficiency and the importance of the barge industry. Barges are the essence of modern efficiency and the mode of choice for bulk, price sensitive commodities. A single barge can carry the equivalent cargo of 15 rail cars or 60 trucks. Barges provide the lowest cost means of transportation to American shippers, which in turn allows U.S. grain to be competitive on world markets. In fact, the industry efficiently moves 63 percent of all U.S. grain exports. American citizens also benefit from the barge industry's efficiency as barges transport 30 percent of the oil that fuels our nation's economy and keeps our cars running and our homes warm. In other words, barges are absolutely critical to the modern U.S. economy.

In the pages of The Washington Post just a few short weeks ago, an article on the barge industry asserted that "reports of its demise, to paraphrase Twain, are greatly exaggerated." New statistics released last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) bear that out. The MARAD report shows that fully 85 percent of the total cargo carrying capacity of the U.S. merchant fleet is accomplished by barges, not only on the inland waterways, but in oceangoing coastwise and non-contiguous trade as well. The new statistics underscore the value of the industry to the U.S. economy as it efficiently and safely meets the transportation needs of American businesses.

The United States has a system of barge transport that is the envy of the world. This historical industry helped to build America. Today, it continues to serve the nation quietly and effectively, proving that sometimes the oldest way is still the best way.

Sincerely,


Thomas A. Allegretti

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