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Barge Shipping Concerns Ease On Mississippi River

The Confluence
/
Flickr

Barge shippers can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now.  

The lingering drought gripping much of the nation had threatened to reduce water levels on the Mississippi River to the point that shipping would be effectively shut down. 

Even though Corps Spokesperson Mike Peterson thinks there’s reason for optimism, he says they aren’t out of the woods yet.

“Historically, February, we usually do start to see some rise out of the river. But we are dealing with a drought, so we’re always keeping our eye on the worst case scenario,” says Peterson.

Lieutenant Colin Fogarty of the U.S. Coast Guard is optimistic that the river will continue to stay open for business. He says historically the river begins to rise in February, but it’s hard to know if that will be the case this year.

“The United States Coast Guard is confident we can maintain a safe, navigable channel up until late January. Beyond that, it really becomes too hard to predict,” says Fogarty

This weekend, contractors working for the Corps completed a project to deepen the shipping channel on a particularly treacherous stretch of the river south of St. Louis. 

Tim Lloyd grew up north of Kansas City and holds a masters degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Prior to joining St. Louis Public Radio, he launched digital reporting efforts for Harvest Public Media, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded collaboration between Midwestern NPR member stations that focuses on agriculture and food issues. His stories have aired on a variety of stations and shows including Morning Edition, Marketplace, KCUR, KPR, IPR, NET, WFIU. He won regional Edward R Murrow Awards in 2013 for Writing, Hard News and was part of the reporting team that won for Continuing Coverage. In 2010 he received the national Debakey Journalism Award and in 2009 he won a Missouri Press Association award for Best News Feature.
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