Gerald Manners: The Expansion Of Pipelines

In “The Pipeline Revolution” by Gerald Manners, he discusses how pipelines have completely changed the way that energy and gas is transported. However, the expansion of pipelines around the globe isn’t just limited to water and energy, it has meant expanded to a larger range of commodities such as chemicals, milk, and coal slurries. The rise of pipelines has been made possible by technological advances such as the cheap production of pipes, electric welding, and improvements in pipelaying. The transport by pipes has both its advantages and disadvantages. While, it can provide a commodity at a constant and continuous rate, improvements in a pipeline are marginal at best and requires the adding of additional pumping capacity. In addition, the routes of the pipelines do not offer much flexibility as the laying of the pipes serves one route only and there is no alternative route once the pipes are laid. However, while they can be an issue at times, at the right conditions, pipelines can often be the cheapest and most efficient method of transport and with a large steady economic, could beat both land and sea transport. …show more content…
Secondly, is that with increase in size, then capacity increase faster than the cost. Thus, the cost per mile decline per the diameter of the pipes, then, in this respect, pipes are more better than other modes. The final principle is that the cost of the pipes will vary on the commodity. Overall, the effectiveness of the pipelines as compared to transports methods is dependent on the distance required and the economics of the area in which the pipeline is in, and the nature of the goods