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They are inefficient, that's why they aren't used in more developed countries or industries. If you're just floating a boat down a river in rural South America or Africa? Sure, it works just fine. But once you reach a certain degree of development, this stuff just becomes annoying. Different cargo - passengers or durable goods or resources - requires different sort of logistics, ports, staff etc to handle and process it all. But if you can have dedicated boats/trains/planes/whatever carrying specific cargo going to specific ports of import/export entry, then it's more efficient.
Shit hole countries still use it because they're inefficient shit holes with poor leadership, but everywhere else tries to phase it out while they can. I suppose if you're still living in the developed world you can enjoy these sort of trips? But to be honest anytime I've been on one it fucking sucked. Get stuck in a port for 48 hours on some shit river in Brazil because they need to unload 500kg of sugar cane, then load 500kg of prostitutes, isn't exactly a nice experience.
