The U.S. Inland Waterway system consists of 8,200 miles of rivers maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 22 states and includes 276 lock chambers with a total lift of 6,100 feet. This highly adaptable and effective system of barge navigation moves over 625 million tons of commodities annually, which includes coal, petroleum products, various other raw materials, food and farm products, chemicals, and manufactured goods.
Following recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Waterways Operators, Congress directed USACE to develop and publish electronic charts for the inland waterways. Inland Electronic Navigational Chart (IENC) Pilot Projects supporting the Mississippi River and tributaries began in 2001. These initial projects forged the path toward a successful program that performed extensive development and distribution of 107 IENCs published in the Inland ENC Product Specification, modeled after the international S-57 Hydrographic Data Exchange standard.
Key Capabilities
These large-scale, accurate, and up to date IENCs enable electronic charting systems to provide accurate and real-time display of vessel positions relative to waterway features, improve voyage planning and monitoring, aid in new personnel training tools and integrated displays of river charts, radar and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) overlays. USACE IENCs are updated on a monthly cycle to stay current with changes in the waterway system.
Success Stories
The IENC data are made freely available to the public and have a variety of users including hydrographic agencies, government entities, private industry, and individual mariners. USACE has facilitated international harmonization of IENC development standards. The Inland ENC Harmonization Group (IEHG) presently has members from nations representing the European Union, South America and the Russian Federation working toward commonality of IENCs worldwide. This effort achieves a common data structure for IENCs and accommodates unique local requirements where needed. The IENC Program promotes formal participation of chart vendors, consultants, and industry governance by waterway authorities.
Current Status
Today, over 7200 miles of navigable rivers have been electronically charted. IENCs for the following rivers are available for free download and use from the USACE E-Charting web site at http://ienccloud.us/: Alabama, Allegheny, Arkansas, Atchafalaya, Black Warrior-Tombigbee, Clinch, Cumberland, Green, Illinois, Kanawha, Kaskaskia, Lower Mississippi, Missouri, Monongahela, Ohio, Ouachita, Red, Tennessee, Tennessee-Tombigbee, Upper Mississippi and White.
Further IENC developments include new geographic features, the latest river surveys, and supplemental chart data layers depicting specific river information as supplemental overlays.
Point(s) of Contact
Denise R. LaDue, IENC Program Manager, COMM: (502) 315-6926, Denise.R.LaDue@usace.army.mil
AGC IENC Team, AGC-IENC@usace.army.mil