Changes in the Rhine Navigation in the
First Half of the 19th Century:
Technological Innovation and
Institutional Transition
JUNICHI TANAKA
Waseda University
Abstract
This study provides a new interpretation of the technological innovation and institutional transition in the Rhine navigation during the first half of the 19th century.
Previous studies have identified two causes for the increase in freight transport on the Rhine during this period: the introduction of steam power and the institutional liberalization in the Rhine
navigation. However, previous studies have not adequately explained the gradual process of institutional liberalization. Furthermore, the reason for the institutional liberalization and the
introduction of steam power on the Rhine in previous studies is still unclear.
To consider these problems, this study analyzes the trend in the freight traffic volume as well as the changes in the institutions and infrastructures in shipping on the lower Rhine in the first half
of the 19th century. My analysis is summarized as follows:
From the end of the 18th to the early 19th century, against the background of increasing demand for various goods, particularly colonial, the transport volume on the Rhine increased rapidly.
However, this acute increase in upstream freight transport, in particular, confronted the technological limit of the capacity of conventional Rhine navigation. To overcome this limit, various
institutional coordinations and adjustments were attempted, including navigational liberalization, the reconstruction of the guild order, and the newly developed regular barge service. On the
other hand, technological innovations also occurred simultaneously, and steamship technology was invented in the 1800s and was rapidly introduced to the Rhine in the 1810s. However, these
technological transitions also progressed gradually. After 1831, when the first Rhine navigation act (die Mainzer Akte) was passed, the institutional adjustments of Rhine navigation and the
technological innovation of steamshipping on the Rhine both progressed gradually and in parallel. Steamships did not take over upstream sail-powered ship transport or animal towing ship
transport on the Rhine until the steam tugboats and steel barges were introduced in 1840s and 1850s.
This analysis enabled us to confirm that the institutional liberalization and technical innovation of the Rhine navigation mutually interacted, and therefore institutional liberalization progressed
gradually. The transition from the conventional transport order to the new order of the steam age was more gradual and continuous than was previously considered.
4. Changes in Transport Volume
1. Introduction
• The 19th century was the transition period in the Rhine river transport.
・Transport volume drastically increased.
・The transport system changed from a guild-regulated system to free
navigation.
・Transport techniques shifted from sail and animal towing to steam power.
• Existing studies suggest two views on the causes of the increased transport
volume.
・Liberalization of the Rhine navigation systems
(Nusteling 1973, Hollings 1995)
・Introduction of steam power to Rhine navigation
(Schawacht 1973, etc.)
・・・However, how did these changes influence each other?
The trend in transport volume
Unit.1,000centner
Rhine Transport passed in Dutch-German Frontier
1806-1850
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Total
Upstream
Downstream
• Before 1831 (when the first
Rhine navigation act was
signed), upstream transport
volume was slightly larger than
downstream transport volume.
• After 1831, the total transport
volume drastically increased.
• Nevertheless, the upstream
increase was slower and
weaker than the downstream
increase in 1830s.
. . . What was the influence of
the limited towing power?
Power change process—from Horse to Steam
Unit1000centner
Unit 1000centner
Ship propelling power in Upstream 1835-1850
8,000
6,000
2. Purpose and Method
Ship propelling Power in Downstream 1835-1850
9,000
7,000
Total Upst.
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
7,000
Sailing
6,000
Steam Total
5,000
Steamships
4,000
Steam towage
3,000
Total Down.
Sailing
Steam Total
Steamships
2,000
0
Steam towage
1,000
Purpose
0
• To examine the influence of the transport systems and techniques on Rhine
river transport.
• To explain the reason for the gradual innovation of the transport system
and techniques.
In the 1840s, steam-powered transport increased only in the upstream
direction. In downstream transport, barges were still propelled by
stream and sails.
→Steam power was almost only used for upstream propelling power.
Research method
• Comparative analysis of the transport volume data and of the process of
these historical changes in the transport system and techniques.
5. Changes in System and Techniques
3. Preconditions
Changes in techniques
• Upsizing Ships
beginning of the 19th century,
max. 200t (in freight capacity)
→ca. 1830, max. 500t.
• Transport system
Before the French Revolution,
Cologne (lower Rhine ) and Mainz (middle Rhine)
were regional traffic centers of the Rhine river transport,
and interregional transport shippers’ guilds existed in these
cities.
Regional transport
・・・Regular barge services (contract regulated)
Interregional transport
・・・Irregular service (free route, but guild regulated)
These barge services had market entry regulation.
During and after the revolution,
interregional transport was backed by an increasing
demand for Rhine transport
and introduced regular services.
Regular barge services dominated Rhine navigation until
the 1840s.
• Introduction of steam power on the Rhine:
Samoreuse was the biggest sail barge on the Rhine in those days
testing navigation in 1816, first regular service in 1824.
Nevertheless, technical innovation was gradual: steam tugboats and steel
barges were fully introduced only in the 1840s.
Changes in the transport system
• Development of horse relay on the towing system.
e.g., Stinnes’ towing horse reserve system,
Prussian national horse relay station in 1817–1818,
First steamship on the Rhine “the defiance”
Developing towpaths and relay stations.
• The legal abolition of market entry regulation by the Rhine
navigation act (Mainzer Akte) in 1831.
However, regular barge services still continued.
Rhine Valley Map
Reciprocal transition in system and techniques
• Regular barge services were related to traditional transport techniques; these
regulations not only worked as the institutional coordination for transport
volume but also worked for horse-towing services.
• Introduction of steam power led to the abolition of legal entry regulation, but
the regular barge services continued because of the low freight capacity and
upstream towing power.
• Shortage of towing power also promoted technical innovation in the steam
engine.
Cologne
Mainz
• Transport techniques
Nevertheless, horse towing and regular barge services continued to operate
until the 1850s. Only after steam tug ships had adequately spread, did the
traditional system completely give way to the new system.
Upstream・・・Partly Sailing (Rhine delta), Mostly Animal (horse)
Towing Downstream・・・Mostly Sailing
In this period, horse towing increased;
however, towpaths and horse relay stations were inadequate.
6. Conclusion
• The liberalization of the Rhine navigation systems and the development of
the transport technologies were both reciprocally affected processes.
• Therefore, the change in the transport system gradually progressed.
• Increasing transport also contributed to the later spread of steam power.
(e.g., Coal transport in traditional regular barge services.)
Horse towing on the Rhine
(Left) near Düsseldorf, (right) near Bonn
• Traditional transport coordination not only was regulated but also
contributed to the change in navigation technologies and systems on the
Rhine.