Miss. River container-on-barge grant

The U.S. Transportation Secretary announced $4.85 million in grants to six Marine Highway projects along the waterways of 17 states and along the Mississippi River. The goal of the Maritime Administration’s Marine Highway Program is to expand the use of U.S. navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion and reduce air emissions by increasing efficiency of surface transportation systems, including an expansion of existing marine operations along the Mississippi River between New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Memphis, Tenn. A grant for $1.75M was awarded to establish a container-on-barge service along the Mississippi River between New Orleans, Minneapolis, Minn., and Chicago, Ill. The new service is designed to collect empty containers in Memphis and transport them to Baton Rouge to meet customer demand for chemical industry exports. The service offers a waterway alternative to reposition empty equipment that would otherwise move via truck or rail. The operation, which will commence with five barges per week, could potentially eliminate about 12,500 truck trips each year. (Source: Marine Link 10/25/16)