Barge shipping

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.

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…

Economy & Business

Water Resources Reform Passes Including Projects Here

Maria Altman

The U.S. Senate passed the first legislation authorizing infrastructure upgrades on the nation’s waterways since 2007, including improvements to locks and…

Economy & Business

River Commerce Group Supports Mississippi River Container-On-Barge Effort

Jason Rosenbaum

A major river commerce group endorsed a plan Tuesday to increase container-on-barge traffic on the Mississippi River. The Inland Rivers, Ports and…

Corps, Barge Industry Watch Mississippi River Levels With Wary Eyes

Tim Lloyd

After flooding this spring, a dry summer has slowly dropped water levels on the Mississippi River.The River gauge in St. Louis was close to zero on Sunday…

Runaway Barge Strikes Bridge Near St. Charles

Tim Lloyd

Updated at 3:34 p.m. on MondayA barge broke loose and struck the I-370 rail bridge near St. Charles on Saturday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard is…