Eddie Stobart, one of the country's biggest road-haulage firms, has invested in a port on the Manchester Ship Canal and plans to expand its waterways routes. ‘It might seem odd that one of the goals of Britain's biggest branded truck company is to get trucks off the road, but that is exactly what we are trying to do,’ said Julie Gaskell, a spokeswoman for the firm.

New pressures, such as congestion, rising fuel prices and the environment, mean the old methods are becoming viable again, she added.

Several major companies, including Tesco and Sainsbury's, have already switched thousands of tons of freight on to ships and barges, while the international courier firm DHL is looking to move urgent mail from central London to Heathrow by speedboat to avoid congestion in the capital.

Despite such moves to water, industry experts say the potential is being frustrated by a lack of planning and imagination by the government, local authorities and British Waterways (BW).

BW regards itself primarily as a heritage and leisure organisation, and critics say it fails to give sufficient priority to freight. Vital wharves are being sold for waterfront development schemes, according to transport experts. In central Leeds, aggregates firm Lafarge's lease on a wharf on the Aire & Calder canal was not renewed as the land had been marked for development. The firm was forced to build a new wharf outside the city, transporting its sand and gravel into Leeds by lorry.

BW points to its development of the Prescott Lock in east London, which will enable boats to access the Bow Back river to reach the 2012 Olympics site. It estimates it will save as many as 1,000 lorry journeys on local roads each week.

Critics claim planning was poor and all the major excavation work on the Olympics site was completed and rubble removed by road before it came into operation.

John Dodwell, chairman of the Commercial Boat Operators Association (CBOA), said the benefits of the waterways could be realised more quickly if the government moved to end what he called ‘business inertia’.

‘In cases where it would cost £11 per tonne to transport some cargo by road and £10 per tonne to transport it by water, companies often stick with road, because it is the tried-and-tested option.’

He said government incentives would help companies to make the shift to water.