As always I read stories about how technology is improving our lives and the car hauler industry. It makes me feel like we are getting 'somewhere' (Excuse the play on words). More and more I see stories about an old technology being brought back and do not know whether to see it as progress or decline.
Train was given new life as the cost of fielding a truck became outrageous due to increased oil costs and regulation
.JPG/800px-Woolbrook_(4).JPG) |
| Now thats technology! |
What? Didnt we put a man on the moon. Dont we have the ability to clone sheep, create marvel medicines, build high speed bullet trains, use satellites for wireless communication, and launch pilotless drones into the atomosphere to name just a few of the innovations of modern man. And now we are going to use barge to deal with the next round of logistics challenges in the 21st century.
Canal or barge systems have not been a major means of transportation since the 1800s...the early 1800s. Isn't this a giant leap backward for mankind. We cannot honestly be considering something this technologically boring?
But why not?
- We have the barges.
- We have the waterway (duh)
- We have a huge need to keep jobs here (local products will be shipped by barge across river)
- We have a need to ship things cheaply to avoid running consumer costs skyhigh
So why do I feel like we are going backwards or starting over. I am wondering if we are reverting to a backwards third world country with cheap manufacturing due to a weak dollar, trains, and barges.Is the next big thing riding horses to work to save fuel and road maintenance costs.
Should I be practicing my horseback riding? Five years ago that statement would have seemed ridiculous. Now..I am not so sure. We have horses, and oats or hay are still pretty cheap. I think we should at least consider the possibility that we are going to be driving a different, more literal, type of mustang to work.
Can you imagine how strange you are going to look texting on your smart
phone while your shoes (hopefully boots at this point) are in stirrups? Even better, I cannot wait to read that my favorite foods were delivered by environmentally 'friendly' means like donkey, horse, or barge.Adds new meaning to the term 'free range' products.
Or even weirder, UPS could start offering multiple means of delivering your package. There could be a new classes of transportation ranging from next day, to three day barge or seven day horse. Imagine the discount you will get for seven day horse class. We might never pay for a brown UPS truck again.
Maybe these homegrown, albeit traditional, means of transportation are a good thing. When we started using trucks and planes we had no idea gas would roar up to over $4 a gallon. We had no idea that repairing roads would be difficult if the government had to tax us to pay for it. We were in the dark not realizing that a 'diesel' exhaust would be killing our atmosphere and changing weather patterns.
Now every trip to the store will be a living history lesson with my kids. They don't just have to read about the history of transportation, they are going to live it.
So bring it on...We should go all out. Trains, barges, horses, mules,donkeys, canals, carriages,covered wagons (why not), and air ballons..I say if its cheap to do and we have it here...saddle up partner.
http://saratogian.com/articles/2012/09/28/news/doc5066690fd326c268704207.txt
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
