Barge shipping

A river barge is loaded with soybeans on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, at Cargill, Inc.’s facility in East St. Louis. For the third time in five years, the U.S. will import more agricultural products than it exports. However, this year’s deficit is tracking to be around $20 billion, far more than last year’s $2 billion deficit.

Bost and Budzinski question Chinese company's purchase of Metro East grain terminal

Will Bauer

COFCO, a Chinese company, bought its U.S. partner's stake in a grain terminal in Cahokia Heights along the Mississippi River. U.S. Reps. Mike Bost and Nikki Budzinski think the sale could threaten national security.

A barge is transported through a lock on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at the Melvin Price Lock And Dam on the Mississippi River.

Health, Science & Environment

Low levels on the Mississippi River could persist through the winter

Eric Schmid

“What we really need is a cold, wet and snowy winter to help recharge this river,” said one climatologist.

A barge on the Mississippi River near the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois on Sept. 18, 2023. Aerial support provided by LightHawk. Credit: Nick Rohlman, The Gazette

Health, Science & Environment

As Mississippi River levels swing between historic highs and lows, shipping grapples adapting

The Mississippi River has reached near-historic lows for the second year in a row, which is slowing down shipping and driving up costs for everyone from barge companies to grain elevators.

Economy & Business

Barges are very efficient. Does that make them a good climate alternative for shipping?

Eric Schmid

The transportation sector accounts for about 28% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Barge shipping could help reduce that output, but there’s not a full picture of how carbon efficient that transportation mode really is.

Barges parked on the side of the Mississippi River on Oct. 17 near Osceola, Arkansas, one of the places where the river is at record low levels.

Health, Science & Environment

Drought and low river levels are crippling barge traffic and hurting grain exports

Jonathan Ahl

Barges are moving along the Mississippi River much more slowly and with lighter loads as they try to get corn and soybean harvest to ports.

Birds rest near the banks of the Mississippi River as a towboat pushing barges makes it way past the locks and dam in Alton, Ill. It's unclear what role barge transportation will play in a green energy movement.

Health, Science & Environment

Barge Industry May Be A Mixed Bag For The Green Energy Movement

Jonathan Ahl

The barge industry claims it is green and could be more so. But environmentalists say even the cleanest towboats and barges will be bad for natural habitats.

Driving into Cairo from the north, you pass a funeral home and a bridge underneath a rail line. There are structures behind this bridge that shut it off in case of massive flooding from the nearby Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

One Town’s Hope Rests On Money and The Mighty Mississippi

Madelyn Beck

The Mississippi River system is both an artery and a vein. It pumps ag products out of the heartland and into the world while bringing back fertilizer...

Barge traffic along the Mississippi plays a key role in the U.S. economy.

Economy & Business

Rock removal helps keep cargo moving along the Mississippi

Wayne Pratt

Some heavy equipment is pounding away this week at the rock in a section of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers…

Economy & Business

Waterways Council: President's budget request 'disappointing'

Maria Altman

A barge and transportation industry group is sharply criticizing the president’s budget request for river infrastructure and upkeep.Waterways Council Inc.…

Health, Science & Environment

Collateral Impact Of The EPA's Proposed Carbon Rule: Barge Companies Are Already Adapting

Historically, the nation's barges have transported much of the nation's coal. In fact, barges are second only behind rail for moving the nation's primary…