what are inland waterways?

Due to their diversity, inland waterways used for navigational purposes tend to be categorised into four distinct zones:

Zone 1	Narrow rivers and canals where the depth of water is generally less than 1.5 metres.
Zone 2	Wider rivers and canals where the depth of water is generally more than 1.5 metres and where the significant wave height could not be expected to exceed 0.6 metres at any time.
Zone 3	Tidal rivers and estuaries and large, deep lakes and lochs where the significant wave height could not be expected to exceed 1.2 metres at any time.
Zone 4	Tidal rivers and estuaries where the significant wave height could not be expected to exceed 2.0 metres at any time.

These waterways are both natural and man-made and include estuaries and free-flowing rivers, regulated rivers (whose flow is regulated by locks), canalised rivers (natural rivers which use artificial cuts for a significant part of their length) and canals. There are approximately 5,100 kilometres of fully navigable waterways in England and Wales of which appromixately 450 kilometres are tidal.

UK waterways have no central governing body though approximately half are managed by British Waterways, a further quarter are managed by the Environment Agency and the remainder are managed by approximately thirty other public, private or voluntary interests.

For the purposes of UK freight statistics, inland waterway traffic is that which takes place inland from the Partially Smooth Water Area (PSWA) summer boundary and comprises of internal (that is, confined within the PSWA boundary), one port (eg. sea-dredged aggregates penetrating to an inland port), coastal (a coastal voyage with inland penetration) and foreign traffic (overseas trade with inland penetration).

There are a number of vessel types which navigate the inland waterways. Narrow boats carry approximately 25 tonnes of freight on the narrow canals, barges (of up to 600 tonnes) operate on the wider waterways and short-sea ships with full seagoing capability operate on the wider waterways around the coast and between the UK and other parts of Europe.

The bulk of inland waterway freight movement is found on large canals such as the Aire & Calder, Sheffield and South Yorkshire and the Manchester Ship Canal. It can also found on larger rivers and estuaries such as the Thames/Medway and the Humber/Trent/Ouse.

 
Download a map of the 
UK's inland waterway network