ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, announced today, March 20, that the first tow of the 2025 navigation season arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Motor Vessel Neil N. Diehl locked through Lock and Dam 2, in Hastings, Minnesota, March 19, with nine barges. Reaching St. Paul marks the unofficial start to the navigation season because it’s the last port on the Upper Mississippi River to open every year. The delay is a result of ice in Lake Pepin, near Red Wing, Minnesota, that prevent tows from heading upstream of the area until conditions improve.
The average first tow to reach the head of navigation in St. Paul is the third week in March. The Motor Vessel Joseph Patrick Eckstein was the first tow of the 2024 navigation season to reach St. Paul. She arrived March 17, 2024. The earliest date for a tow to reach St. Paul occurred March 4. It happened in 1983, 1984 and 2000.
With the head of navigation open, the Mississippi River navigation channel will continue providing safe, reliable and cost-effective waterborne transportation for the fertilizers that farmers depend on to grow the corn and soybeans that help feed America. The St. Paul District maintains the 9-foot-deep navigation channel and operates 12 locks and dams to support navigation from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa.
Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. A 15-barge tow is the equivalent to more than 1,000 semi-trailers or 200 rail cars. One barge can carry more than 50,000 bushels of wheat, or enough to make around 2.1 million loaves of bread. A barge filled with 50,000 bushels of corn can produce around 1.3 million boxes of cereal. Shipping these commodities on the river saves money and ultimately helps to reduce cost at the grocery store.
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| Date Taken: | 03.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2025 09:38 |
| Story ID: | 493301 |
| Location: | ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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