Editorial: Navigation More Sunny Than Cloudy

The headline over the story said: “Shipping Stoppage.” Then in less conspicuous print: “Drought shuts down Missouri River barges early.” Sounds bleak, doesn’t it? But an overview of the navigation landscape indicates that the scene is more sunny than cloudy.

For one thing, the industry has been dealing with “up and down” Missouri River water releases for a long time. When it wasn’t a matter of water availability, it was a matter of environmental challenges and lawsuits, all aimed at diminishing the role of Missouri River commercial navigation.

We all know that navigation is but one of the beneficiaries of Missouri River water. Towboats push barges up and down the waterway to deliver cargo. Boats of one kind or another have delivered goods on the Missouri even before the steamboat New Orleans made a major breakthrough in 1811 by cruising successfully from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, thus demonstrating that steamboats really could go upriver under their own power. That breakthrough, of course, set off a burst of steamboat construction.

What has changed over the last half century-plus is that the appearance of gigantic lakes, created by mainstem-reservoir dams, have given birth to a burgeoning tourist and fishing industry. The availability of water in such quantities further aided irrigation, water recreation, etc. When the building climate was right, it provided water for industrial use and additional for municipalities. These stakeholders no longer pale in value as they once did to river navigation.

The upshot is that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities for managing Missouri River water have become more difficult. During the present seven-year drought there has been only so much water available. Therefore, under the agency’s current operating plan, on October 18 the Missouri officially closed. This does not mean there will be no navigation. It merely means that the Corps will no longer provide water for it. Sail at your own risk, one might say.

This is the fourth year that the navigation season has shut down early due to drought. So shutting down is not big news. The towing industry has been dealing with it for years. The good news is that droughts do end. Some have compared the drought to the “Dust Bowl” days, and that probably is fitting. (In this case, however, the drought has not hurt the crops). But those Dust Bowl days ended, too.

As we peer across the marine-industry landscape, it seems more good things are happening than bad. If there are clouds, there are also silver linings behind them.

Could one help but notice the positive message portrayed on the colorful cover of this magazine on October 16? An Osprey Line vessel was pushing 15 barges of containers, and we’re told the company offers a weekly fixed schedule of service connecting Houston, Memphis and New Orleans. The company’s network connects inland river ports to Gulf Coast global container hubs. To some that may not seem like much, but to those who have watched the concept of moving less-than-bargeloads of cargo on U.S. waterways for numerous decades, it is remarkable progress that sets an example for other wanna-be terminal operators and barge lines around the country.

As Brad Carmony tells us in the October 16 issue of the WJ, container movements were pretty much limited to rail and trucking firms prior to March 2004, when Memphis’s Fullen Dock & Warehouse initiated a partnership with Osprey Line. An aerial photo with Carmony’s story shows a record tow of 373 containers of cotton, which was shipped to the Gulf in August 2005. This type of service is quickly gaining momentum on the inland waterways.

Kirby Corporation, by the way, owns Osprey. A current financial report indicates the sun is surely shining over Kirby Corporation, which says about 85 percent of the company’s income comes from its fleet of nearly 900 tank barges. They push chemicals from refineries near the Gulf to manufacturing plants in the East and Midwest. Kirby says they are operating at capacity with nary slowdown in sight. Kirby operates more than 240 vessels.

Just over a year ago, Hurricane Katrina dealt a serious blow to the Gulf and navigation. But since then the boat-building business has been in full swing. To be sure, the hurricane forced change, but many positive things are happening. All over the waterways, new boats are being built and older ones repowered. The industry, though waiting patiently for passage of the Water Resources Development Act, is doing well. Solid reports from the Tennessee-Tombigbee and Arkansas waterways support those contentions.

The drought that hampers the Missouri River also plays havoc with water levels in the Mississippi. The level at St. Louis, for example, could drop a couple of feet, making it necessary in some cases for transporters to load barges lighter. Industry leaders indicate that if loads are too light, it will require more barges. So perhaps the industry may face another squeeze. But researchers can leaf back through nearly 120 years of Waterways Journals and find accounts of more difficult problems that have been overcome.

On May 27, 1896, a cyclone tore up the St. Louis riverfront, destroying some 15 vessels, killing people and destroying other facilities. Over the years floods have struck, ice gorges have blocked the river and other seemingly calamitous events have occurred. Yet the need for water transportation grows, and the inland waterways maritime family strives to provide it.

There really is sun out there.

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