ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the discontinuous modes of transport. Ships provide by far the cheapest means of discontinuous transport. Oil from the Prairie Provinces has to be transported either overland, or by a combination of land transport and inland waterways, if it is to be sold in Canada’s eastern markets. The several means of transporting energy can usefully be divided into two groups. The first group is the so-called ‘discontinuous’ media—lorries, railways, barges and sea transport. And the second is the ‘continuous’ media—pipelines and transmission lines. The low costs of sea transport are rooted in the relatively low ton/km capital costs of ocean-going vessels. The economy of ocean bulk transport with its low ton/km costs, therefore, is deeply rooted in a relatively high degree of vessel use. The broad characteristics of energy transport by inland waterway are comparable to those of sea transport, with several significant exceptions.
