If containerships are the cheapest way to transport cargo, why aren’t we using canals instead of railways and highways to transport goods over land?

Question

If containerships are the cheapest way to transport cargo, why aren’t we using canals instead of railways and highways to transport goods over land?

In: 0

Answer 1

Because it wouldn’t *remain* the cheapest way if we had to dig canals literally everywhere.

Digging the Panama Canal was an engineering project about the size of the Moon landings, and that was only around 40 miles. If we wanted to transport goods across a continent we’d need to dig thousands and thousands of miles.

It would cost a lot more than just using trains and trucks.