Inland River Record

While attending and participating in the very enjoyable 2025 IMX in Nashville, I was talking with Zac Metcalf, the associate publisher of The Waterways Journal. We were standing outside the… Read More

Since the popular Inland Marine Expo will take place May 28–30 in Nashville, Tenn., it is only fitting that the “old boat” this week is a Nashville product. The Nashville… Read More

The number of barges being worked on the Mississippi River system, its connecting waterways and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway during 2024 totaled 22,385, including dry covered, dry open and tank… Read More

A question posed to me on a social media post recently has prompted this column. Multiple boats with the same name can cause confusion, particularly when the boats in question… Read More

Ken Eriksen Of the discussions I had at industry events the past two weeks, besides President-elect Trump being reelected, nothing got more attention than inland barge fleets that ply the… Read More

Throughout the years there have been many types of vessels converted into river towboats, but likely few as odd as the two detailed in this column. Built for the U.S. Read More

The Howards of Jeffersonville, Ind., were known for the beautiful wooden packets they started building in 1834. By the turn of the century, they had created some of the… Read More

One of the oddest towboats ever to grace the Mississippi River system was a vessel named Pioneer. Not the Dravo-built, single screw of 1934 (The Waterways Journal, March 23, 2022)… Read More

By Ken Eriksen Towboats are the workhorses of the inland river industry operating on the Mississippi River and its connecting tributaries. They come in all dimensions and horsepower capabilities for… Read More