Originally published in 1983, this volume examines one of the most long-standing major commercial water-arteries of Western and Central Europe: The Rhine. Since the mid 20 th Century its importance has been given new stimulus by the intensified mobility of economic circulation generated by the EU - forming as it does a common axis to that organisation's original six members. The Rhine is one of the world's busiest rivers and therefore provides an excellent case study in the development of inland waterway transport, not only because of its complex physical nature, but also because of the diversity of economic, social and political patterns along its course.