As 2022 moves into its final months, low water levels and drought form the basis of the news impacting inland waterways operators and barge companies. In the first week of October, numerous barges were reported grounded in the Mississippi River, particularly south of Baton Rouge. This has consequences: barge rates jumped 218% in St. Louis, compared to 2021.
Two stretches of the southern Mississippi River were reopened to commercial traffic over the weekend after dredging operations deepened the shipping channel near Memphis, Tennessee, and near Stack Island, Mississippi, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday.The major shipping waterway had been closed to vessel traffic at the two locations since at least last week after several barges and boats
Commercial barge traffic on southern stretches of the Mississippi River was at a standstill on Tuesday as low water levels halted shipments of grain, fertilizer and other commodities on the critical waterway, shipping sources said.The supply chain snarl comes just as harvesting of corn and soybeans, the largest U.S.
The historic Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff announced it has secured its first newbuild order since being bought out of administration in 2019.The shipyard, best known for having built the Titanic, is returning to action after being purchased by London-based InfraStrata. The yard said on Wednesday that it was awarded an initial contract worth approximately £8.5 million to build 11 barges for U.
Pressed into emergency service by the blockade of Ukraine's seaports by Russian invaders, neighboring Romania is racing against time to move Ukrainian grain to global markets before the next harvest triggers bottlenecks.Ukraine, the world's fourth largest grain exporter, has been forced by Russia's invasion to re-route shipments by train via its western border into neighboring Poland
The containership Ever Forward has been refloated after more than a month aground in the Chesapeake Bay, near the Port of Baltimore. The Hong Kong-registered vessel was freed around 7 a.m. on Sunday after running aground on March 13 while en route from Baltimore to Norfolk, Va.Salvors removed a portion of the nearly 5
Waterway traffic is coming back. November 2021 saw 52.1 million tons moving on the U.S. inland waterway system, the highest monthly tonnage since October 2019, a few months before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shutdowns and stoppages of early 2020. Flows estimated by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the U.S.
A tug and barge ran aground Thursday night near Deerfield Beach, Fla., while transporting munitions from Port Canaveral to a U.S. Naval facility in the Bahamas.The U.S.-flagged tug Sea Eagle had four people on board when it began taking on water and went aground at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said.
Two crew members on a British cargo vessel were found to be over the legal limit for drugs or alcohol after a collision with a Danish barge in the Baltic Sea that killed at least one person on Monday, the owner of the British ship said.The 55-metre Karin Hoj barge capsized when it crashed with the 90-metre Scot Carrier off the island of Bornholm in fog and darkness early on Monday.
Jeffersonville, Ind.-based barging company American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL) said it has been cleared of any fault related to the 2008 Mel Oliver collision and resulting oil spill on the Mississippi River.The announcement comes after more than 13 years of legal proceedings and is the result of a settlement agreement reached on November 18, 2021, with the U.S.
The National Transportation Safety Board issued 10 safety recommendations Tuesday during a public board meeting held to determine the probable cause of the fatal August 21, 2020, hazardous liquid pipeline strike and subsequent explosion and fire aboard the dredging vessel Waymon Boyd.
Sturgeon Bay, Wis. shipyard Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding said it has delivered the 340-ft. liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering barge, Clean Canaveral, to Polaris New Energy on Friday, December 3.Built as part of an articulated tug and barge unit (ATB), the 5,500 cubic meter capacity barge is the largest of its kind ever built in the U.S.