Economic Role of the Waterway in Western Europe

Thanks to the development of new, highly efficient techniques of navigation, inland navigation along large gage canalized waterways can offer an efficient, modern, and cheap mode of transportation. In Western Europe, the waterway is not only a mode of transportation but its improvement can serve urban development, create recreational facilities, and help in flood control. The specific impact of large gage waterways on the economic and industrial development is the result of (1)The assurance that industries located in their vicinity still simultaneously experience a substantial and permanent decrease of their transportation costs and an increase in their size and influence; and (2) additional advantages offered to factories located on their banks, resulting in increased profit margins and reinvestments capabilities. Such advantages can only be felt, however, if the waterway crosses regions of high urban and industrial density and links zones of development of sufficient economic dimensions.