Inland Shipping News

On August 28, the American Waterways Operators (AWO) organized the second annual Falls Overboard Safety Standdown Day. Falls overboard are the leading cause of mariner fatalities in the tugboat, towboat, and barge industry.Participating companies and stakeholders were encouraged to pause briefly on August 28 to review falls overboard prevention procedures with crew; reinforce safe deck behavior, buddy systems, fall restraint use and proper PPE.They were also encouraged to promote…

Port terminal lobby groups in Brazil are urging government officials to allow dredging on the Tapajos River, a major waterway for grain exports that cuts through the Amazon rainforest, fearing a severe El Niño could leave one of the country's main export routes too shallow for barges.Global trading firms, such as Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, move roughly 15 million metric tons of grains annually along the Tapajos, industry data shows. Brazil is the world's largest soybean…

Water levels on the Rhine River, one of Europe's busiest shipping arteries, have slightly risen this week, official data showed on Wednesday, but remain near record lows, hampering transport and production.The water level gauge at the chokepoint of Kaub near the city of Koblenz rose to 14cm (5.5 inches) on Wednesday morning, inland navigation agency WSV data showed, after 5cm earlier this week.The river is about one metre deeper than the gauge, which has been traditionally used as an indicator to measure local levels.As a rule of thumb, if the Kaub gauge falls below 78cm for 30 straight days,

U.S. transportation has steadily become more efficient through advances in engine technology, infrastructure upgrades and increasingly sophisticated logistics networks.The next wave is different. Automation is turning transportation networks into continuously optimizing systems that consume less energy per unit moved, operate for longer hours, reduce labor bottlenecks and reshape demand for fuels and electricity.Across rivers, roads, rail and air, software increasingly determines…

Low water levels risk halting cargo traffic on a key stretch of the Rhine this week, effectively splitting the critical waterway into two separate zones, the federal association of German inland shipping (BDB) said on Monday.BDB managing director Jens Schwanen told the Rheinische Post newspaper water levels at Germany's Kaub gauging station, a major bottleneck for Rhine navigation, were forecast to drop into single digits for the first time due to lack of rainfall.Kaub lies south…

A group of US regional partners have come together to form the Northern Grain Belt Ports Initiative.The Initiative, several years in the making, is an offshoot of the regional Corn Belt Ports Initiative, which works primarily with rural, regional inland ports to promote competitiveness, sustainability, resiliency, and integrity of inland regional port systems.The group consists of the Joint Board of Harbor Commissioners (Port of La Crosse), the City of Prairie du Chien, the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission (MRRPC)…

U.S.-flag shipping on the Great Lakes lost a total of 1,953 hours or 82 ship days due to inadequate icebreaking, about a third of the shipping season on the Great Lakes.It took 96 hours after the Soo locks opened for the year for the first vessel loaded with iron ore to finally clear the St. Marys River the critical connection point between Lake Superior and the lower lakes. At one point, 19 vessels were stopped for multiple days in the ice, waiting for icebreakers to clear the way to either get their loads or deliver them.The ice season dragged on well into April…

The advancement of the recently announced America’s Maritime Action Plan (MAP) is embraced by the ports in the bi-state St. Louis region as a unique opportunity to play a role in this comprehensive federal framework. The MAP is a blueprint for rebuilding the nation’s maritime strength, increasing the use of technology, enhancing supply chain resilience and expanding domestic industrial capacity. It is estimated that only one percent of all new vessels are currently built in the United States.

CMA CGM is preparing to launch an electric inland barge on France’s Fos-Lyon corridor, with an annual potential of nearly 12,000 TEUs.The initiative aims to promote a regular, reliable, competitive and decarbonized logistics solution between the Port of Marseille-Fos, Lyon and the Rhône Valley, to accelerate a modal shift and relieve congestion on the A7 motorway.By 2030, the Group aims to double its multimodal volumes in Lyon, increasing inland waterway transport to 100,000 TEUs per year and rail transport to 60…

Concordia Damen has announced the delivery of a CDS Tanker 135. Last week, the vessel successfully passed its trials, after having been outfitted at Concordia Damen’s shipyard in Werkendam by its long-time outfitter CCM3, and many trusted suppliers and partners. MTS Gambler is 135 meters long and 11.45 meters wide and is designed for the transport of mineral oils. It boasts a cargo capacity of 4,180 m³. Due to its proven and optimized design, the vessel sails with minimal resistance and features a favorable speed-power curve.

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.2 million tons in October, a decrease of 3.8 percent compared to 2024. Limestone cargos were also below the month’s 5-year average by 10.7 percent.Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 2.6 million tons, a 6.1 percent reduction. Shipments from Canadian quarries increased 6.8 percent to 626,805 tons.Year-to-date, the limestone trade stands at 22.8 million tons, a decrease of 5.6 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries decreased 4.5 percent from last year to 18.6 million tons…

The American Waterways Operators, the trade association of the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry, has released a new video on the industry's contributions to U.S. national and homeland security.The two-minute video, The Tugboat, Towboat and Barge Industry: Supplying America, Securing America, notes that while the mariners who transport cargo and facilitate commerce on America's rivers, coasts, harbors and Great Lakes are critical to powering the economy, they also play…

Ukraine on Wednesday reopened its Bystre Canal at the mouth of the Danube, which had been closed since a dredger exploded in late July, the Ukrainian state Seaport Authority said.Ukraine had been transporting grain on the Bystre and the Danube as an alternative route for its exports while access to its Black Sea ports was limited in the first year after Russia's invasion in 2022.Since the ports were unblocked in 2023, Ukraine's use of the Danube has declined sharply."Shipping is permitted for vessels with a draught of up to 4.5 metres…

Repeated rain in past days has raised water levels on all of the river Rhine in Germany to normal levels allowing cargo vessels to sail with full loads, commodity traders said on Tuesday.Dry weather and a heatwave in June and July meant the river became too shallow for vessels to sail fully loaded.

Inland waterways freight shipping on the river Mosel in western Germany is back to normal with ships able to use a damaged lock for sailings in both directions on the river, navigation authorities said on Friday.Shipping was stopped on the river, an important transit route for grains and rapeseed between Germany and France, after an accident involving a passenger vessel last week damaged a lock at Sankt Aldegund between Koblenz and Trier.But the damaged lock is functioning, although more slowly than usual…