Low Water Levels on the Mississippi is affecting Shipping - FreightWaves Roundtable

[@bjrinshore]

Nice shout out from the Army Corps engineer Sal! Even the On-site Managers are influenced by your analysis. Congratulations.

[@wgowshipping]

I was happy he watched the video.

[@davefellhoelter1343]

This IS GOOD STUFF! Very Important! to tink of as a secure Nation!

[@eliasthienpont6330]

🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁LION c LIKE No. 40 -----> But does dredging do any good? What water there is now has to fill a deeper hole and really does not fill up the river.

[@randybunney7727]

Very interesting question. Presumably the dredged areas are filled with water from areas of the river where there is an excess of water. Perhaps even from river water near the banks in straightaways. I assume tugs, like ships, navigate towards the banks on sharp turns in the river because water depth is greater in such locations. Nonetheless, interesting overall engineering question. Would love to hear the Corp of Engineer's response.

[@jonmccormick8683]

The navigable channel has buoys that are tethered to the bottom of the river. When the water level drops the buoys move a bit which is a nuisance, but the channel (area between buoys) needs to be a certain depth to have these barges floating and not grounding on the bottom. The Corps try to make the navigable channel consistent so it can be used by the barges. =This is a continuous process, that is more dire right now with the lower water levels. =All hands on deck with the dredges.

[@themoonman-4]

Thanks for restreaming this Sal, great having Patrick giving us the skinny, this is a national security risk, needs changing, hope we get rain soon and realize how important it is to have an up to date corp of engineers,

[@nbrown5907]

We have entered a major El Nino maybe that will bring the moisture needed. ;-)

[@MythicFool]

I used to work on the Dredge Potter out of St Louis. North of the city, we have the USACE lock and dam system to keep the levels where they need to be. South, there are no locks, so digging out the channel is all we can do. I can see dredging going on pretty much all year 'round here unless the river actually ices over. With the el nino system this year, I don't see that happening.

[@MichaelMcgarrity-ys8wf]

Mississippi is doing good in Minnesota. I'm no Barge Man but it looks good up here. We have some Rain and it's picking up with Fall. Hopefully we get a good Snow Pack this Winter to help out those down River. I'm not fond of Snow but I love my People down South. TY for Report.

[@jonmccormick8683]

Above St Louis you have Locks and Dams. =Water level should be good unless they are releasing more water to help out the lower Mississippi.

[@MichaelMcgarrity-ys8wf]

@@jonmccormick8683 I didn't know that. We do have many Locks and Dams here. We also had a fair amount of Rain last week. Maybe the South will get a boost from this soon. A big Snow Pack Melt often puts us close to Flood Stage here, sometimes over so I shall continue praying we have much Snow to kick the River back into high Water. River freezes Solid here every Winter. We have Freight Rail on the River Bottom. Rail gets busy here in Winter, when Spring comes Trucks start rolling, then Barges mostly moving Grain South and things like Concrete North. Everything is wonderful when Mississippi River runs strong. We are incredibly blessed to have the Mississippi River. Lake Itaska is where Mississippi River begins a little trickle you can hop over in one Step. St. Louis is as far South as I've ever seen the River. It's amazing Wide at St. Louis.

[@bobwarren8836]

Love the channel. So much interesting info. provided in each post. Question, The under water rock pinnacles discussed, are they at Thebes, Il. area or elsewhere?

[@SubvertTheState]

That Army Engineer said "Over" at the end of his short monologue haha. As a US Army Signal guy, i catch myself using phonetic language all the time.

[@garytimms2951]

That was really cool good job

[@AllNighterHeider]

Barges are going to need little kid flaoties to keep from bumping bottom soon. Thanks Sal

[@joecarlson6428]

What is happening on the Ohio river? Under normal and higher flows they run 3 wide and 7 long (old style 180' x30' x15'. The USACOE maintained an 8 draft.USCGC GASCONADE is the the name ship of the class, She was built in 1964 in Saint Louis. There are 9 in this class of river buoy tenders. They two newer (Greenbrier) river buoy tenders built in the early 1990s.

[@wgowshipping]

The Ohio is running well due to the dams on the river.

[@Pippy626]

They need some canals from the upper Missouri River Omaha floods a lot.

[@andywomack3414]

Whenever we make rivers more suitable for navigation, and I don't dispute the need for that, other qualities we might value about these features in a more natural state we often loose. these loses are often not accounted for, and tend to be unpredictable? Did they know when they cut-off a bend of the Mississippi an expensive and extensive, and ultimately temporary flood-control project had to be constructed?

[@wgowshipping]

There is always a trade off with nature and trying to meld it to conform to your desires.

[@kentslocum]

Agreed. Another aspect is that circumstances change over time. Oregon and California are in the process of removing dams from rivers to hopefully restore fish habitat. The dams are no longer considered a net positive, since the maintenance costs are too high and the electricity generated from the dams is no longer profitable. The side benefit is that the river will return to its original channel, and fish will be able to swim further upstream.

[@rjlaxvespa1742]

When I was a kid my parents or my mother rather would take the train to Chicago and then on to Michigan, passing by the Tony the Tiger sign in Battle Creek... I can remember the train going across what I probably thought was the Mississippi River.. The benefit was, you could just let your children run, if you had more social skills you could go upstairs & gamble with the adults playing catasta... The food was also really good I think we had a meal plan, the ice cream I think was packed in dry ice, it was really cold, amazing stuff, my folks were big ice cream makers anyway but this stuff was store-bought and much better... a splash of vanilla cup of sugar 2 quarts of half and half, a Dozen raw eggs.. forgetting that pasteurized nonsense, we only drank raw milk from Altadena Dairy...

[@andresjohannesson1862]

Put some waterway locks in place near mouth of river

[@godlugner5327]

At the beginning I thought I turned on cable TV for a second..... Oof

[@DJ99777]

Thanksal

[@SimonTekConley]

So by Jan and Feb the country will become Mississippi river experts?

[@dianagama3390]

Hi Sal, just wanted to give you the heads up on a recent report by YT channel Inconvenient Truths about an operational accident leading to the death of 55 sailors of a CCP submarine on August. A diver doing maintenance accidentally killed the onboard crew and was the only survivor.

[@wgowshipping]

I have been following this story. Many sources that I trust have raised questions about this so I am not sure how accurate it is.

[@dianagama3390]

@@wgowshipping I look forward to your reporting, it's always a valuable insight.

[@SuperDave_BR549]

isn't that deceptive marketing? i didn't see a single round table in the whole video..... in fact the host's table was sort of triangular great stuff as always Sal, keep it up.

[@wgowshipping]

Good point!😂

[@SuperDave_BR549]

@@wgowshipping I really got a kick from the shout out you got from the Army Corp guest agreeing with your last video on the same subject. totally SWEET!

[@LeeMcc_KI5YPR]

Barges are limited to 4-5-6 wide? Ok, what is the normal allowance?

[@wgowshipping]

Up to 40 barges, but a limit of 15 going through the locks north of St. Louis.

[@Texas240]

This El Nino peaks in 2025. Buckle up. The water level is low enough that salty sea water is pushing up into the river. For cities that use the river for tap water and still have lead pipes, like New Orleans, it could result in a Flint Michigan type of water crisis with saltwater coroding pipes and allowing lead into the water

[@smelly_elvis]

Don't worry Sal... Priscilla just made 'E' get out of the ol' Miss to eat lunch at Graceland. Elvis will get back in and raise the water. Lmao

[@wgowshipping]

Smelly!!!! Missed you bud!

[@bobbiecrider6964]

👍👍

[@thereissomecoolstuff]

What this all tells me is buy railroad stocks. Rail is unaffected by water levels. Build more rail for essential commodities. The rest can take it’s time down to he river. The farmers don’t mind any difficulty that raises prices. Neither would I. I don’t think there will be significant wasteage. Farmers now use horizontal plastic bag storage. Pretty slick system.

[@mentatphilosopher]

If I heard correctly it seems we need to hear more about under river rock outgrowths which could impede navigation around Saint Louis. I would say just dynamite them but that would probably require a twenty year long environmental impact study and lawsuits while people starve or complaint about food inflation.

[@Skarry]

I take it you're not familiar with the shore issues around Cairo and the surrounding areas. The Army Corp of Engineers, National Gaurd, and Coast Guard have the ability to maintain, alter, dredge, etc. this whole area as needed. It's a matter of deciding where to get the best impact for the dollar and doing it.

[@roderickcampbell2105]

I believe your assessment is correct.

[@pateldujo]

Pray for rain: "If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.

[@edithpack9962]

What are we going to find in this water?

[@catman5546]

😁

[@edithpack9962]

Flooding for tunnels.

[@arnswine]

Deny the water level! (Duh)

[@BrettBaker-uk4te]

MAKE THE SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY ABLE TO HANDLE NEO-PANAMAX VESSELS NOW!

[@andywomack3414]

WHY?

[@fishmonger6879]

That river has low water levels also.

[@BrettBaker-uk4te]

@andywomack3414 So we don't have to rely on the Mississippi! So 8 states and 2 provinces have more export capability. BECAUSE WE CAN!

[@BrettBaker-uk4te]

@@fishmonger6879 So we need to buy a few more modern dredges.

[@Hotblackdesiato4242]

Maybe increase lakefreighter use to a location point where neopanamax vessels can access on the St Lawrence.? Thunder Bay used to have huge grain storage capacity, maybe that could be used during ice months on the great lakes?

[@tzyijiang9884]

May be the Mississippi River needs locks?

[@privateer177666]

Essayons you sons o’biches, ESSAYONS