US Gulf:
Low water levels on the lower Mississippi River have closed Harvey Lock to navigation since Oct. 2. Ongoing guidewall construction at Bayou Sorrel Lock intermittently blocked Monday-through-Friday movements between 6:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., with normal operating hours available on Saturdays and Sundays.
On the Atchafalaya River, commercial travel remained shut down indefinitely through Little Island Pass, Middle Island Pass, and Riverside Pass due to exposed underwater pipelines.
Tows locking through Algiers Lock without assistance faced length and width restrictions, effectively limiting tows to four standard barges or two 30,000 mt tankers per lockage. Vessels passing with larger barge counts were permitted when traveling with an assist vessel. Waits were noted up to 10 hours during the week.
Dredging was scheduled for New Orleans Harbor on Nov. 1-7. Industrial Lock waits were noted up to 10 hours, while tows passing through Port Allen Lock were delayed up to five hours during the week. Colorado Lock wait times peaked above seven hours on Oct. 30-31, with Brazos Lock lockages reported as high as 14.5 hours.
Mississippi River:
The lower Mississippi River’s historic low water levels gave freight operators no relief during the week, as river gauges continued to return depth readings unseen since the late 1980s.
Draft limits on solid cargos continued at 9.0 feet in both the northbound and southbound directions, while limits on liquid cargos were reported at 8.5 feet of draft. Barge-count maximums were reported at 25 cargoes per tow, down from the typical 30-40 barges. As a result, total carrying capacity was reduced by 25-50% or more per tow, sources said.
In addition, blue-water vessel drafts at Baton Rouge, La., were reportedly capped at 41 feet for the week, down from 45 feet.
Despite a slight rise to (-)8.12 feet on Nov. 2, the river gauge at Memphis remained significantly below the 5.0-foot Low Stage during the week. The Vicksburg, Miss., gauge was posted at 1.67 feet, also below the 5.0-foot Low Stage, while the St. Louis gauge was noted at (-)0.45 feet and falling on Nov 2. All three gauges were expected to hold steady or fall from their Nov. 2 levels through at least Nov. 16.
Dredging at Mile 704 on the lower river kicked off on Nov. 1 and was expected to end on Nov. 2-3. An eight-day dredging project was also scheduled for Mile 485, with closures of up to 48 hours anticipated at the site.
Channel work was expected to begin on Nov. 3 at Mile 344, closing the area to navigation daily between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. through an estimated Nov. 17. Work was expected to transition to Mile 336 on Nov. 17-25. A safety advisory was reported at Miles 228-230 due to repairs underway at the I-10 bridge.
Old River Lock is closed through Nov. 13 for miter gate replacement, complicating access to the Red River. Vessels were recommended to detour through the Atchafalaya River.
Recent rains on the upper Mississippi River allowed for relaxed transit restrictions in the St. Louis Harbor, allowing barges with corners under 9.5 feet of draft to move within the area. Officially, however, draft limits remained at 9.0 feet at St. Louis during the week.
Dredging work at Mile 184 on the upper river resulted in overnight shutdowns during the week. The project is scheduled to continue through Nov. 14.
Illinois River:
Wickets continued in the raised position at Peoria Lock and LaGrange Lock due to low river levels, necessitating lockages through both locations.
Ohio River:
Low water levels continued to snag travel on the Ohio River, prompting 9.0-foot draft limits for the full length of the waterway. Drafts were limited to 9.0 feet on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, as well. Dredging was reported in the Mound City, Mo., area at Miles 965-974 on the Ohio River.
Miter gate replacement work in progress at the Cannelton Lock main chamber will continue to force detours through the secondary chamber until Nov. 11. Most wait times were noted in the 15-36 hour range through the week.
Montgomery Lock primary chamber repairs are scheduled to run through Dec. 16. Passages are limited to the secondary chamber while work is underway, resulting in 2-3 day delays during the week, increasing from 18 hours in the prior report.
Low water levels and a sandbar located near Olmsted Lock contributed to locking delays in the 5-12 hour range during the week, with intermittent delays noted up to 22 hours.
Arkansas River:
Norrell Lock is slated to remain shut to daytime navigation through Nov. 30, blocking travel daily between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Lockages were available during overnight hours, subject to a 70-foot width limit. A complete shutdown at the site is scheduled for Jan. 30-31, 2023.