2022 Missouri River Shipping Season [NE and IA ports]

[MORiverOMA]

Hello and good morning everyone!

The Missouri River shipping season kicked off today with our first northbound tow. M/V Divine Mercy of Marquette Transportation Company passed the Kerrey at 3:30AM with an inline tow of three (presumably loaded) covered hopper barges. I'm going to guess this is the cement shuttle for Eagle Materials from the Sugar Creek cement plant in KC to the terminal at Port of Omaha. This is a new vendor for the cement shuttle, last year it was handled by Missouri River Towing, LLC.



Also headed for Omaha is M/VAva Hadley. This vessel left Cairo, IL on the 30th with an AIS destination of Omaha. Her ETA is sometime on the 5th of May. She is presently just west of St. Louis, with unknown cargo. I'll post an update as she gets closer.

As always, vessels can be tracked with the MarineTraffic app. Have a fantastic day!

[Brad]

Is there enough water in the river yet? Last time I went by it looked like it was still down for winter.

[MORiverOMA]

Brad:

I was pondering this very question myself. The river appears to be quite low, which I assume is why we had no barge traffic in April.

EDIT: Divine Mercy departed the cement terminal in Omaha after a brief stay. She then called Blair briefly this afternoon, and headed for Blencoe. She arrived at NEW Port of Blencoe around midnight. Quite the journey!

/mor

[ita]

Federal government invests in Missouri River flood repairs

John Chapman
The 2019 flood caused quite a bit of damage to the structure of the Missouri River.

Since then‚ the federal government has made a major investment to get the river back into shape.

“I think a lot of people didn’t even know we had a navigation project up here,” said Dave Sobczyk with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“We’re about in the middle of the process. Put out about now around $90 million worth of contracts within our district which goes from Rulo, Nebraska, up to Sioux City, Iowa, covers about 230 miles.”
...
“We have various government contractors working on getting those structures back up to their elevations, build back up to help that channel function as efficiently as its supposed to be.”

“We’re authorized to provide a 300-foot wide by nine-foot deep channel for commercial navigation.”

All of this repair work is coming at a time when the Missouri is seeing more barge traffic.

“Up around here you can see four, and even some companies will try to push six, which each barge can hold about 1,500 tons of bulk material.”

“There has been a significant uptick and there seems to be a significant amount of momentum and investment on the private side coming back onto the river.”

Sobczyk expects to see a growing amount of barge traffic on the Missouri. And as more repairs are done to the river, travel along the river will become more and more efficient.

Has there ever been a commercial port on the Missouri in Omaha or nearby?

[skinzfan23]

I have seen barge traffic on the Missouri a few times this year. I know when I lived in Dubuque, IA on the Mississippi there was always barge traffic with 12-15 barges.

[Brad]

Has there ever been a commercial port on the Missouri in Omaha or nearby?

Does the barge loading facility located where Riverfront Place and the Bob Kerry bridge are now located count?

[ita]

Has there ever been a commercial port on the Missouri in Omaha or nearby?

Does the barge loading facility located where Riverfront Place and the Bob Kerry bridge are now located count?

I wasn't aware there was one there. Pictures?

[Brad]

Has there ever been a commercial port on the Missouri in Omaha or nearby?

Does the barge loading facility located where Riverfront Place and the Bob Kerry bridge are now located count?

I wasn't aware there was one there. Pictures?

Here is a 1993 aerial from the www.dogis.org website. Its interesting to zoom on that area and scroll back though the old aerials on there.

The red arrow is a dock there is still there today on the north side of the Gallup campus.

DOCKS.png

[daveoma]

I thought the port of Omaha moved to Dock street just north of the airport. Is that not the case?

[Brad]

I thought the port of Omaha moved to Dock street just north of the airport. Is that not the case?

There was a railroad track there that ran out to the river, but that rail has been severed from the rest of the network. There was a little marina or inlet that which has since silted in. Its all owned by "OMAHA RIVERFRONT PTNRSHP".

There are a couple private barge loading facilities northwest of there that I believe at least one of them is still used.

[ita]

I thought the port of Omaha moved to Dock street just north of the airport. Is that not the case?

There was a railroad track there that ran out to the river, but that rail has been severed from the rest of the network. There was a little marina or inlet that which has since silted in. Its all owned by "OMAHA RIVERFRONT PTNRSHP".

There are a couple private barge loading facilities northwest of there that I believe at least one of them is still used.

Thanks for the input. I know there is always an issue regarding cost, but I have thought it odd that since there are investments being made by the federal government and private businesses outside the metro to increase barge traffic, there is no local push, at least anything publicly known, to develop barge facilities somewhere in Omaha. There is still a decent amount of agricultural and food products processed here. If we can grow on the manufacturing side, particularly around the airport, they could utilize the river as well with good port facilities. Maybe the Big Mo' is consistent enough from a depth standpoint. Even the great Mississippi is struggling right now. Anyway, seems like a possible missing opportunity to create jobs and grow business in Omaha.

[Toto]

You have a mayor last seen on the side of a milk carton and a chamber of commerce imploding on itself. Who's going to push for facilities like this?

[Louie]

In the latest update on Google Earth, one of the few barges on the river was captured. This is by the OPPD plant.