Water transport
Also called: Waterways · Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 7 "Lifelines of National Economy"; Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"
Meaning
Water transport carries people and goods over seas, rivers, canals and lakes. No road or track has to be built, only ports at each end. Water causes far less friction (drag against movement) than land, so it uses the least energy and is the cheapest mode of all. It has two parts: sea routes and inland waterways. It suits heavy, bulky cargo such as coal, cement, timber and ores.
Example
National Waterway 1 runs along the Ganga between Haldia (West Bengal) and Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), a distance of about 1,620 km. It is one of India's main inland waterways.
Don't confuse with
- Inland waterway: this is only one part of water transport. It covers rivers, canals and lakes, but not sea routes.
Related concepts
- Containerisation
- Twenty-foot equivalent unit
- Hub-and-spoke model
- Transshipment hub
- Northern Atlantic sea route
- Mediterranean-Indian Ocean sea route
- Cape of Good Hope sea route
- Southern Atlantic sea route
- North Pacific sea route
- Honolulu