Air cargo the area surrounding the city and thus land access. As this access was closed, in the so-called Berlin blockade, an airlift remained the only option to get increasingly urgent deliveries of food, coal, and other supplies to West Berlin. Over 330 days to 12 May 1949 a total of 2.26 million tons of cargo were airlifted to Berlin, an average of 6,800 tons a day, 80% by the US and 20% by the UK. Although freight traffic developed modestly, reaching only 800,000 tonnes worldwide by the mid-1950s, the world economy was hitting its post-war stride. Germany and Japan were emerging
Liskeard and Looe Union Canal up the East Looe Valley over use of water. Some limited statistics have survived: in 1849, 21,713 tons were carried, of which 7,546 tons were copper ore, and 6,175 tons were coal; in 1859, 48,193 tons were carried, of which 17,361 tons were copper ore and 15,712 tons were coal, as well as 8,297 tons of granite. Messenger says that the profit each year was about £2,000. At the later date, the canal was working at capacity, and the transshipment at Moorswater from rail to canal was costing from 4d to 6d per ton; because of congestion on the canal,