Transportation: Barges That Cross the Ocean

(2 of 2)

A Role in Space. The advent of the new ships could turn many inland cities—Memphis, Nashville, Tulsa and Little Rock, for example—into ports where ocean cargo can be handled. Even towns on shallow rivers could get a crack at foreign commerce, since the average draft of a barge is only eight feet. Tulsa officials already plan to spend $20 million in the next two years to build a port to be named Catoosa, from which they expect to ship oil field machinery destined for Europe. Arkansas grain distributors, who export 40% of the 100 million bushels of grain that the state produces annually, plan to switch from rail to barges in order to get the grain to New Orleans for the start of the ocean voyage. Some residents of northern Alabama even foresee a role for the barge ships in the U.S. space program. If a projected canal is built, they expect space vehicles made by Wernher von Braun's team at Huntsville to be floated by barge to Mobile, Ala. for ocean shipment to Cape Kennedy.