Officials Look To Expand Types Of Goods Shipped Along Mississippi

The shipping industry is hoping to grow the amount of freight moving on the Mississippi River by opening the doors for new types of shipments.

Barges on the Mississippi River are generally filled with bulk goods like grain, coal, and chemicals. It’s been years since barges shipped containers on the river filled with lumber, furniture or Halloween decorations, but some officials are hoping that type of freight makes a comeback.

The federal Department of Transportation will soon be offering technical assistance and grants to help make that happen through the Marine Highway Program.

Colin Wellenkamp is executive director of Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a group of mayors lobbying on behalf of the river that helped push this change.

“There’s not a whole lot of political appetite out there to build a bunch of new rail and roads,” he said. “If that’s not going to happen, but you’re still going to have all those people and they’re going still going to need all that stuff, how are you going to move it? The only real is answer is inland waterways, especially the Mississippi River.”

Wellenkamp said the goal is to get containers running from New Orleans to St. Paul, but it could be some time before they make it to the Upper Mississippi River.