Tagged: shipping

Reporting from KRCU's Jacob McCleland used in this report.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials anticipate the Panama Canal Expansion Project will bring more shipping traffic to Missouri’s waterways.

Freight development administrator Ernie Perry says there won’t be a sudden boost in river traffic, but the larger canal will make river shipping more feasible.

After years of drought, barge operators along the Missouri River got more rain than they had hoped for this year.

The industry had grown optimistic when rising river levels appeared to promise an increase in barge traffic this year. The Missouri Department of Transportation even projected a 15 percent to 20 percent increase.

But then the rains started, causing flooding along the 675-mile stretch from Sioux City, Iowa, to St. Louis. That prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to close the river between Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota and Glasgow, Mo.