The question of the stats is a minor quibble The article is not swamped in stats and is otherwise fine so I wouldn t want to hold up a listing for one sentence I think it s something that can be addressed in ongoing development As part of that ongoing development I would wonder if these stats are not telling us much about the trade and we don t know if they signify that traffic on the river at that time was above or below average what value they are bringing to the reader I m seeing that the main points are that trade was increasing that there was a desire for larger boats to carry the trade and that the river was silting up making passage by larger boats difficult Perhaps a wording such as Does that work for you Tea time