Value to the Nation logo graphic

Value to the Nation

Redirecting...

Value to the Nation: Inland Navigation Fast Facts

VTN Fast Facts mapNavigation is USACE's earliest Civil Works mission, dating back to 1824 when Federal laws authorized and funded USACE to improve safety on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and several ports. USACE provides safe, reliable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation systems (channels, harbors, and waterways) for movement of commerce, national security needs, and recreation. Activities in the Civil Works Navigation Program include planning, designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and further improving navigation channels, locks and dams.

Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports

Inland Navigation Reports can be selected by national, project, USACE Division, or USACE District level. Select 2020 Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

Inland Navigation Fast Facts Archive

Collapse All Expand All
 2019 Inland Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2019 Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2018 Inland Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2018 Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2017 Inland Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2017 Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

 2016 Inland Navigation Fast Facts


Select 2016 Inland Navigation Fast Facts Reports from the USACE Digital Library collections:

You can select an individual report, or go to a collection of reports. For a list of all reports in a collection, for example, in the project report collection, select "All Project Reports". 

How these numbers were calculated.

More Information

Collapse All Expand All
 Benefits in Perspective


For the purposes of the Value to the Nation effort, navigation infrastructure has been subdivided into three primary categories: Inland, Coastal, and Great Lakes. Inland infrastructure refers to activities related to channels located within the coastal boundaries of the US. Inland navigation infrastructure may include locks, dams, and related infrastructure. The USACE maintains 12,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways with 218 lock chambers at 176 sites. The system of barge navigation moves over 500 million tons of commodities annually, which includes coal, petroleum products, various other raw materials, food and farm products, chemicals, and manufactured goods.

The primary National Economic Development (NED) benefit of USACE inland navigation infrastructure is the reduction in the cost required to transport commodities compared to the next best alternative (rail transportation).

 How these numbers were calculated


The National Economic Development (NED) benefit estimate for Inland Navigation is calculated first at the commodity level by multiplying the tonnage estimate for each commodity group by the estimated savings per ton1 ($/ton) for each commodity group. The total NED benefit for Inland Navigation is calculated by summing the resulting NED benefit estimates for each commodity group.

NED Benefit Estimate ($) = Estimated Tonnage Shipped (ton) x Savings per Ton Shipped ($/ton)

Inland navigation typically comprises two sub-groups: fuel-taxed ports and inland shallow-draft ports. Together these two subgroups account for approximately 540 million tons of cargo that were transported via the inland waterway system in 2018. Transportation rate savings per ton (by commodity type) were derived as the difference between transportation costs associated with current waterway movements and transportation costs associated with the most-likely least cost alternate transport mode. Typically, a combination of rail and/or truck is assumed to be the most-likely alternative transportation cost.

The Inland Navigation transportation rates utilized in this analysis were provided by the USACE Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation and Risk Informed Economics Division (PCXIN-RED). Unique rates were developed for each calendar year beginning in 2010, by commodity group, which effectively combine the major bulk sub-groups that transit the inland navigation system. Tonnage-weighted average rates were developed using river basin rate studies (Arkansas, Columbia-Snake, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Ohio, Red, and Upper Mississippi). These studies identified the major commodity movements that occurred in each basin, and calculated origin-destination transportation rates for waterway movements, and the least cost overland route. The difference between these two modal options represent rate savings.

Inland navigation tonnages, rate savings per ton, and total rate savings are shown in the table below.

2018 Inland Tonnages, Rate Savings per Ton, and Total Rate Savings

Commodity

Tonnage (M)

Savings per Ton ($)

Total Savings ($B)

Petroleum
Products

115.9

$29.84

$3.46

Coal

102.5

$12.66

$1.30

Grains

92.5

$27.38

$2.53

Aggregates

79.1

$13.55

$1.07

Chemicals

53.4

$51.33

$2.74

Crude Petroleum

35.4

$19.05

$0.67

Iron & Steel

27.0

$32.15

$0.87

Ores & Minerals

11.8

$39.24

$0.46

Others

22.9

$32.54

$0.75

Grand Total

540.5

 

$13.85

Due to the nature of the USACE Navigation program, much of the division, district, and project level data includes double counting (mainly because tons that are transported in one district are also likely to be transported in other districts as they move along a waterway). In short, to accommodate these issues a national quantity of inland tonnage (based on commodity tonnage) that did not include double counted tonnages was distributed to each project based on its percentage of total tons shipped. 


1Note: All tonnage values reported are measured in short tons.

Sources of Data

  • FY 2020
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2020). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation. (2020). Waterway and Overland Transportation Costs.
  • FY 2019
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2019). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation. (2019). Waterway and Overland Transportation Costs.
  • FY 2018
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2018). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation. (2018). Waterway and Overland Transportation Costs.
  • FY 2017
    • USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC), TOWS detail table. (2017). Electronic database. Maintained by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
    • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation. (2017). Waterway and Overland Transportation Costs.