U.S. Gulf: Shippers reported wait times of 8-10 hours at Algiers Lock for the week. Vessels continued to detour through Algiers while Bayou Sorrel Lock remains offline, and backups have been commonplace while lock operators wrestle with the increased traffic entering and exiting the West Canal. Bayou Sorrel is closed through Nov. 15 for dewatering, maintenance, and repair operations.
Transit time through Industrial Lock was reported at about an hour for the week on an average of two boats queued, and passage through Port Allen Lock was estimated at an hour or less, with one boat in line for locking.
Heavy rain along the Gulf Coast lifted water levels at Baton Rouge, canceling the Low Water Safety Advisory previously in place at Miles 167-303. Levels at Baton Rouge were 10 feet and falling on Oct. 29, well above the 8-foot mark needed to lift the advisory. The New Orleans river gauge showed 4.4 feet and holding.
High water levels in the West Canal closed Harvey Lock on Oct. 28. The lock had reopened as of Oct. 29, though the Corps required a minimum of two deck hands on tows through the lock while the river stage remained at 10 feet or higher.
Calcasieu Lock dolphin construction was scheduled to wrap up on Oct. 30, shippers reported. Traffic through the lock mostly normalized on Oct. 20, although the Corps noted that intermittent interruptions remain possible until construction concludes. Shippers reported an approximate four-hour transit delay on Oct. 29.
Clearance at the West Port Arthur Bridge is reduced to 69 feet through Apr. 30 for maintenance and painting.
Brazos Lock was closed for the week due to high water conditions, and transit through Colorado Lock was restricted to a single barge at a time. Shippers reported 13 boats and 23 tows in line for locking on Oct. 28.
Shoaling was reportedly blocking the entire channel near Corpus Christi Bay and Laguna Madre on Oct. 28, with no traffic able to pass until dredging is completed.
Lower Mississippi River: Southbound travel through Miles 480-490 was closed early last week due to vessel groundings resulting from low water levels. Shippers expected daylight-only southbound traffic to resume on Oct. 28, and an estimated 50-55 boats were reported waiting to pass.
A Low Water Safety Advisory was in effect for Miles 480-869 for the week, including tow-size restrictions and a maximum barge draft of 10.5 feet. River levels deteriorated further in the Memphis area last week, sinking to (-)4.5 feet. Mile 418 is scheduled for mat-laying and weir dike construction on Nov. 7-17, with shippers expecting intermittent daytime delays.
Upper Mississippi River: Vessels waited 2-4 hours to transit Lock 20 on the Upper Mississippi River last week on an average four boats queued. Wait times through Lock 27 were reported at about an hour.
Repairs shut down the Lock 27 auxiliary chamber during the mornings of Oct. 28 and 29. Sources described slow transit due to ongoing low water levels, although conditions were slightly improved. The St. Louis gauge read 2.5 feet and rising on Oct. 29, up from 1.7 feet the week before, and levels at St. Paul had risen to 3.6 feet from the last reported 3.16 feet. The Dubuque river gauge showed 5.2 feet and holding on Oct. 29, an increase from the previous week’s 4.9 feet.
Shippers advised southbound vessels leaving from St. Paul and Minneapolis to release no later than Nov. 14. Boats departing from McGregor have through Nov. 23. Lock 9 is set to close for the season on Dec. 7. Locks 14 and 17 will shutter Dec. 14, and Locks 13 and 21 will go dark on Jan. 4, 2016. The locks are tentatively scheduled to reopen for the spring navigation season in first-half March 2016.
Illinois River: Travel through Ma