In some of the rivers in America we use barges to move raw materials and freight and it would be good to move them faster and allow for them to be received faster so that freight can be loaded on larger vessels at the ports.

If we can further increase our barge traffic we can indeed help alleviate the over crowdedness of the trucks on our highways and the already over maximum railways. Why can't we triple up the barge flows in the United States or even ten-fold the flow of barge freight in Country? The fact is we probably could.

There are several issues to consider in that the barges must be loaded and the ports near the ocean need to be able to accept the flow of faster and larger barge shipments, yet if the system was built and set up to do this, we could competitively lower our costs in shipments and lower the time to get stuff to market. Meaning perishable produce and other types of shipments could go further and remain fresher during their journey to market.

This expands the possibilities of what can be shipped by barge and how far along it can go on its journey at various times of the year. More choices mean more efficiency, more opportunities and more profits for American Business. By using the same techniques used by NASA in increasing air traffic flow, we may be able to increase the barge traffic too. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Currently Lance is retired at age 40 and is running an Online Think Tank Forum while traveling North America. Perhaps considering something extremely challenging to do that will exercise his mind and utilize all his experiences, observations and skills. Any ideas?