Inland freight water transport revenue in the United Kingdom 2010-2022

Mirroring the trend of its sea and coastal freight water transport industry, revenues of the UK’s inland freight water transport industry witnessed a decline from 77 million U.S. dollars in 2010 to 72 million U.S. dollars in 2019. Amongst key reasons include the limited connectivity between the waterways, narrow gauge canals which are unable to accommodate large ships and the falling demand for coal and petroleum products, which are amongst the main goods transported through inland waters. As of 2018, the total freight volume transported by inland waterway’s amounted to 93 million tonne-kilometers, compared to 160 million tonne-kilometers a decade earlier. The total length of navigable waterways is 1,050 kilometers, which accounts for nearly three percent of the EU’s overall inland waterways. The Humber, Mersey, Severn, Thames and Trent are amongst the major navigable rivers.

In order to boost growth in the medium term, the government has proposed the use of ICT services such as the River Information Services (RIS), which will enable better connectivity as the use of alternate fuels and electrification.