The Waterways Journal
7 November 2005
By Capt. David Smith
SmartRivers 21, billed as an International Symposium on Inland Navigation in the 21st Century, was held in Pittsburgh, Pa., October 2-4. According to the program, the symposium, hosted by the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, the National Maritime Enhancement Institute at Marshall University, the West Virginia Port Authority and others, was
designed to bring together transportation, logistics, economic development and travel/tourism experts from around the world to showcase the potential of inland navigation and highlight best-practice examples of inland navigation success.
The symposium began with a river cruise aboard an excursion boat of the Gateway Clipper Fleet on the evening of October 2. The following day attendees were treated to a motorcoach tour of ports, terminals and resorts in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, culminating in a reception and entertainment at the Mountaineer Resort, Newell, W.Va.
The main portion of the symposium began on the morning of October 4 at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel on the banks of the Monongahela River opposite Pittsburgh Point. Following welcomes and introductions by Barbara McNees, chair-man, and James McCarville, executive director of the fort of Pittsburgh Commission, the day was divided into a series of panels. The first was "Setting the Stage," moderated by McCarville. The next panel, moderated by Rex Woodward, was termed "Best Practices."
The luncheon speaker was Otto Schwertz, TINA Vienna Transport Strategies, who spoke on "Building an Inland European Action Plan." Following lunch, Patrick Donovan of the West Virginia Port Authority moderated a panel on "Capturing 21st Century Opportunities." The final panel consisted of a roundtable discussion moderated by McCarville, and made up of most previous panelists, and others including Dana Robertson of the National Maritime Enhancement Institute at Marshall University.
This symposium provided an in-depth description of inland navigation in Europe, and highlighted differences between European and U.S. navigation systems, practices and support. It was readily apparent that inland navigation in Europe enjoys support from government and the general public, including the environmental movement. Water transport is seen as advantageous toward reducing road and rail congestion while providing the most environmentally friendly means of bulk cargo trans-port. Water transport is encouraged by government support and investment in infra-structure rather than imposing user fees such as the United States has in recent years. These user fees were termed as "exorbitant" by one European panelist.
The future of inland water transportation in this country was seen as very promising, particularly in the area of containeron-barge. However, some challenges do exist. The general public must somehow be made aware of the vast benefit of inland water transportation to the nation as a whole, and hopefully not through a disaster such as the failure of an aging infrastructure component. As one panelist noted, what Europe has dealt with for decades - congestion and high fuel cost - is just now being felt in the United States, and as this situation worsens, it will pro-vide advantages for water transport.
The SmartRiver 21 Coalition intends to make this symposium an annual event alternating between Europe and the United States.