Could canals carry more freight into city centres?

Could canals and rivers be used again to carry more goods into city centres?

They already reach many city centres, and purpose-built cargo boats could use those routes. Electric propulsion and automation are suggested as opportunities for such services.

Canals and rivers already provide routes into many city centres. Modern cargo boats could use that infrastructure to carry freight. Electric propulsion is proposed as potentially easier to provide in canal craft than in road vehicles. Greater automation is also suggested, partly because boats avoid the pedestrian crossings and other interactions of road traffic. These are possibilities for renewed freight services, with the Danube and Thames offered as reminders that river transport remains in use.