Upper Mississippi Shipping Season Finally Begins

Wednesday marks a historically late start to the Upper Mississippi River shipping season thanks to a severe winter and record-breaking ice.

The first tug and barge of the season is scheduled to pass through Lock and Dam 2 near Hastings, Minn. It’s the unofficial kick-off to the shipping season for the upper part of the river, but this year marks the latest start since 1970 according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Corps spokesman Patrick Moes says it’s all thanks to the severe winter and a record-breaking 32 inches of ice on Lake Pepin. He says the ice broke up sometime earlier this week, but this first shipment is nearly a month late.

“The beginning of navigation has started, on average, March 22,” said Moes. “That said, we don’t have the luxury that our brethren up in Lake Superior have with respect to ice breakers and such. We’re really more at the mercy of Mother Nature.”

Kent Pehler works with Brenan Marine in La Crosse. He says the late start to the Mississippi shipping season means seasonal dock workers are being called back to work later and businesses are paying more to get products by rail or truck. One example, he says, is cotton seed, which increases milk production in dairy cows.

“They normally would have received several barges by now,” said Pehler. “Because the river was not available they had to rail product in at a much greater shipping cost and re-handling cost.”

Now that the river is open, Pehler says he’s optimistic it will all balance out.

“I think we’ll see some pretty good, early demand here,” he said. “The season as a whole will be compressed, so hopefully that’ll make it busier through the entire season.”

The Mississippi River navigation season traditionally runs until late November.