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How about nuclear powered, extremely powerful tugboats, maybe catamarans or even submarines. Cargo would be loaded on seaworthy barges that can be towed and quickly dropped off and collected along the trade routes. The tugboats would be running more or less constantly to get maximum ROI. Moving the barges in and out of docks would be handled by smaller vessels.
A nuclear tugboat could also double as a mobile powerplant if needed or if normal business was slow for some reason. Maybe even the navy can adopt such a system and put their airfields on barges. They can rent nuclear towing capacity when needed and don't have to bind huge capital into their current type of specialized solutions.
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