One of life’s great pleasures is river cruising and if you manage to indulge yourself in this experience, for instance in the Danube–Rhine voyage between the Black Sea and the North Sea, you will be fascinated by the generated economic activities to all communities along this waterway system.

The Main (pronounced Mine) Canal, a 100-mile connection between the Rhine and Danube rivers to develop regional trade, was first attempted by the ruler Charlemagne in 793. This was followed 1,100 years later in 1846 by Ludwig I, the ruler of Bavaria and eventually completed. However, the 100 locks designed for small vessels making small vertical changes in heights above sea level, were soon made redundant by the emerging road and rail systems.

The new canal, for longer and wider vessels, started in 1960 and despite setbacks, was completed in 1992, opening up a trans-European freight route and setting the stage for the development of river cruising for the region. The maximum height above sea level is 406 metres at the Hilpoltstein Lock in Germany.

Who would believe that 15,000 vessels are now employed here, including 410 river cruise vessels, with a total of 61,000 beds (the equivalent capacity of 102 medium-sized hotels of 300 bedrooms)? This alone generates 13 billion euros annually. These passenger vessels are generally a standard 190 passenger design of 135m in length and 11.45m wide, to neatly and impressively fit into the many 12m wide locks with only 275mm clearance either side, without bumping the ship and waking the passengers. More importantly, 5.7m of limiting air draft to fit under the lowest of the hundreds of road and rail bridges, has created innovative designs of wheelhouses and wing control stations that lower themselves into the space below.

The cargo vessels in this system, generate 8 billion euros in trade and carry 300 million tonnes annually, including bulk minerals, grain and containers taking just 10 days to go from the North Sea to the Black Sea, some 1,136 nautical miles (2,104kms).

The sea distance from Holland to the Black Sea via the rough waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean and passing Istanbul, is 3,330 nautical miles or 14 days for the same size small coasters of 3,500 tonnes capacity.

The US, Canadian, Russian, and Chinese river systems, have also instigated significant trades, which generate prosperity all along their canal and river systems.

Australia had a mild skirmish with river locks on the Murray River 130 years ago, but small thinking at the time, saw the build of small locks and small lift heights, which only achieved 36m above sea level for small vessels, but the rapidly expanding road and rail network, had canal/river systems eventually consigned to the ‘too hard basket coffin’. The coffin has since been well and truly nailed down by an avalanche of environmental rules and regulations against dredging, or minuscule messing of waterways and anything within 2-3 kilometres.

The mighty Murray River, with 970 kms of navigable waterways, has never had the river mouth engineered for safe navigation, such as Lakes Entrance and the Gold Coast. The South Australian government should be ashamed of themselves. The other 132 previous river ports that helped establish transportation in the early settler days around Australia, are no longer navigable because of green tape and the demonisation of dredging, and our slack acceptance of our spiralling road deaths, serious accidents, congestion and road maintenance.

Bob Katter pushed the idea of Queensland waterways whilst he was a Minister in the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. Even a recent 2019 transportation study paid by the Palaszczuk government to appease the Katter Party, verified that waterways offered a positive way forward to unlock economically trapped mineral resources in Queensland. This ‘entrapment’ is defined by the cost of extracting the minerals, loading it on to a truck, then loading it onto a train, then loading it on to a ship, for a price cheaper than you can sell it. That report lies idle in the Queensland Government Transport Department.

Given that the technology of river lock systems now include eco-locks that use 60 per cent less water than traditional locks, and vertical lock changes of 25m is normal, would it be time that Australia re-looked at national water transportation and its prosperity potential?

For sure if the Chinese invade, it will be number one on their agenda. They are good at canals!

How about something not as grand as the North Sea to Black Sea system of 2,100kms, but a simple exercise of a 1,700km navigable canal joining the Gulf of Carpentaria, passing by Burketown and Mount Isa and straight to Port Augusta? At the halfway point, near Birdsville, you could run another canal directly to Brisbane.

On the April 23, 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened Australia for aligning with the US, reminding us that ‘his Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles were within striking distance of Australia’. Our coffee group of the MTG immediately wrote to Kim suggesting a line of ICBM strikes along this potential canal route. We even offered a hot date with Greens Senator who had already strategised the blowing up of the Port Augusta coal-fired power station. Even offering naming rights for any children produced as a result of this date, did not evoke a response.

If you take the time to study the huge mineral wealth on these proposed routes, the topography of what I am suggesting, you would have a zigzag canal in a south-south-westerly direction, passing west of Mount Isa at a peak height of 266 metres above sea level. This would provide a very useful port for the export of lead and zinc to Port Pirie and Asia, as well as an export pathway for the 1.2 billion tonnes of phosphate, particularly since those tenements in the Georgina Basin across Queensland and the Northern Territory, remain unmined. This is a no-brainer!

There are ample studies on the significant fish habitat growth of the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway to placate the inevitable screams of the activists. Strict environmental standards in canals in Amsterdam, Venice, and the Panama ensure that these waterway are always kept healthy.

Waterway transportation is around 3-5 per cent of the cost of road transport, with corresponding levels of emissions. While there may be little or no appetite for such a canal cruise within Australia, the economics of bulk freight alone would justify such an investment.

Such a bold project requires a government with vision, imagination, boldness.

Without stuttering, can you say out loud ‘CANAL… CANAL… CANALBO DO IT?’