Economic History Of The United States - Essay Example

The article d “Drought hits Shipping Industry, Raises Prices” from the Climate Wire of 27 July says that reduced water levels in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers could cost the shipping industry hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits. Reduced rainfall in the catchment areas of these two major rivers has led to fall water levels. The reduction in water levels has reduced the width of water ways available for navigation and that has forced barge operators to reduce the number barges on the river and to reduce the loading on each barge.

Under normal water draft conditions, a barge can carry 2200 tons of dry cargo. Typically a train of 15 barges is pulled through the river by a tow. A one foot fall in water level requires the loading of each barge to be reduced to 1600 tons to prevent the barges from running aground on sandbanks in the river. This reduced capacity has already caused spot market prices for barge transport to rise by $ 4 a ton. River transportation carries over 60% of US grain exports and 22% of the domestic petroleum and petroleum products.

A single train of 15 barges carries as much material as 70 trucks and road transport would not only be far more expensive in fuel cost but also in terms of increased air pollution. Previously, in 1988, there was similar disruption of river transportation due to drought which led to the construction of dikes on the Mississippi river to release water into the river in the summer months. This year, the Congress has authorized $ 120 million for dredging. River transportation which is so vital for US commerce still remains subject to the vagaries of the weather.

(Summary of the article: “Drought hurts shipping industry, raises prices” by Mollie Bloudoff- Indelicato, Climate Wire, 27 July 2012). In our course on The Economic History of the United States, we have learned how the invention of steamboats caused a surge in river transportation of agricultural produce that helped settlers in the mid-west transport farm produce to the population centers in eastern United States. This improvement in river transportation of materials also led to the development of navigable canals to improve connectivity to the north east of the US.