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Cheshire is home to one of the biggest salt mining operations in Europe, with up to two million tonnes of rock salt extracted per year, necessitating many tens of thousands of delivery journeys by heavy goods vehicles on the roads.
Transferring such loads to water transport would significantly cut the number of HGVs on the roads with knock on benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, road accidents and risk of injury.
The potential that river-sea shipping had to reduce the environmental impact of the Cheshire salt transport operation prompted the Department for Transport to provide grant assistance for an initiative by a small shipping company, River-Sea Trading Ltd, to move large quantities of salt by ship from a mine alongside the river Weaver to Liverpool, a journey by road of some forty miles. For many years until the advent of the roads, the Weaver was used to transport salt by water from the riverside mines.
Initially, British Waterways (BW) showed enthusiasm for the project and gave it formal approval, but when the time came for it to start and an appropriate ship had been purchased with government assistance, BW first would not allow the ship onto the Weaver, then changed the rules to stop the initiative completely.
In 2001, Captain Heather Mitchell of River-Sea Trading Ltd. began negotiations to recommence salt transport on the river Weaver from Winsford where it is mined immediately adjacent to the river along the 30 mile length of the river and onward, via the Manchester Ship Canal and Liverpool, to various UK West coast ports where salt deliveries could be received by water transport.
 The necessary agreements with regard to the salt loads were obtained from the mining company and from BW with regard to the navigation of the Weaver.
A suitable ‘river-sea’ ship, the MV ‘River Dart’ was then found and her dimensions checked again with BW. The ship was 50 metres in length, well under the 60 metre limit published by BW, whose river and commercial managers were made fully aware of the ship’s dimensions and specifications and who also inspected the general arrangement drawings.
When River-Sea Trading had received confirmation from BW that the MV ‘River Dart’ was appropriate for the Weaver, the ship was purchased for £155,000 with the assistance of a £60,000 Freight Facilities Grant awarded by the Department for Transport.
 It soon became apparent that the condition of the River Weaver fell far short of the standards that BW had presented, and that they were obliged by statute to maintain for this, a commercial waterway. For years, dredging and lock maintenance have been neglected on this and other waterways.
In December 2001 and January 2002, applications were made for a trial passage on the river by the MV ‘River Dart’. Each time BW raised objections and transit permission was refused. A measure of BW’s true support for water transport can also be gauged by the fact that whilst refusing permission to use the waterway, they nevertheless wanted to charge a toll fee for the navigational trial.
Whilst agreement was sought from BW for access to the Weaver, the MV ‘River Dart’, which had been designed specifically for the niche river-sea traffic market, was forced to trade on other coastal routes in unequal competition with larger ships.
 Meanwhile, in March 2002, BW’s Head of Freight Development wrote in a letter to River-Sea Trading’s Heather Mitchell, ‘British Waterways are committed to the development of such services wherever possible and appropriate on the waterway network and are working with companies such as yours and others in the private sector to bring this about’.
In the summer of 2002, to avoid the cost of meeting their statutory obligations, BW demonstrated their real level of commitment by reducing the maximum permitted ship length on the Weaver from 60 metres to 45 metres, knowing that this would prevent the 50 metre long MV ‘River Dart’ from operating on the river and so put an end to the project.
That didn’t prevent BW appearing on television in August 2002 to extol their ‘vision’ of transferring freight from roads to water. To support their case, the BW spokesperson made specific reference to the River Weaver salt transport, the very traffic they had so recently stopped.
The salt transport was a golden opportunity for BW to facilitate the implementation of UK government and European Commission policy on sustainable transport. In the event, BW didn’t just lack the commitment but deliberately obstructed the initiative.
As a direct result of BW’s actions River-Sea Trading Ltd., which has been attempting to survive without the trade for which the ship had been purchased, will probably finish up in liquidation.
The river Weaver fiasco once again exposes BW’s hypocrisy in proclaiming themselves ‘freight champions’ whilst going to extraordinary lengths to prevent freight transport from developing on key waterways. It also exposed a lack of control by the BW national management. This was an initiative that would have seen BW policy implemented but which reluctant local management were able to stop. Their message to BW’s directors was effectively ‘If you wish to reduce costs, don’t expect us to support water transport’.
Contrary to their publicity, management throughout BW lack the vision to realise that by working closely with the private sector to implement water transport where it can compete effectively with roads, BW would contribute to sustainable transport, broaden its marketing base and increase its income.
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