Flood plays havoc with barges
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By Jennifer DeWitt | Saturday, June 14, 2008 |
Rising floodwaters forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to shut down two Mississippi River locks and dams Thursday, creating a major roadblock for barge traffic.
Corps spokesman Ron Fournier said the agency must close the locks when the water goes over the gates because it makes them inoperable. Lock 17, New Boston, Ill., was the first to close at 2:53 a.m., followed by Lock 16, Illinois City, at 11:30 a.m.
“All the rest are still working and waiting for the river to rise,” he said. “But anyone north of Lock 16 is now stuck.”
The Corps does not expect to close Lock and Dam 15 at Rock Island. But any change in the weather forecast could alter that decision, he added.
“Before it’s all over, we’ll have nine lock and dams closed from 16 (Illinois City) to 25 (Winfield, Mo.),” Fournier said. “We haven’t closed this many locks since 2001.”
The action will make 216 miles of Mississippi River non-navigable to commercial river traffic. That creates a serious setback for companies such as Alter Barge in Davenport.
Larry Daily, Alter’s president, said he had barges rushing to beat the closings Thursday morning. “We’ve got one racing to get out and one did get out to St. Paul,” he said, adding that he started the day with two tows that had been shut down and a third that likely was going to end up tying off in Davenport.
An idle tow and barges can mean a loss of $10,000 a day between what it costs to operate and the cost of not making it to its destination, said Daily, who has found himself in the national media spotlight this week. “That means we started out the day with $20,000 in losses.”
The total loss “depends on how long it lasts,” he said. “The biggest problem is this is all deja vu — it just happened six weeks ago.”
According to Fournier, the Corps estimates a two-week shutdown of the locks based on the current weather forecasts. “The last lock to close would be the first to open.”
The locks’ closing effectively shuts down barge traffic but not the river. “The Coast Guard is the one that closes the river; we just close the locks,” he said. “The river is certainly open to recreational craft, but unless you’re an experienced boater, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Daily said flooding creates challenges for even his experienced crews. “As the water goes up and covers more things, it gets more difficult for us because there is less to tie off to,” he said, explaining that even though a tow may not be moving, his crews still have plenty of work. “We still have other operations to take care of. Our first concern is safety and making sure our people are OK and the equipment is OK and secured to something stationary.”
The flooding is halting his barges at a time that they are busy hauling everything from corn to fertilizer, steel, coal and cement. He added that the situation affects “everybody from John Deere, Alcoa, Central Iowa Power Co., Linwood Mining and LaFarge.”
Another cargo sitting on the barges — road salt. “We used a lot of that last winter and it’s all got to be replaced,” Daily said.
Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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