U.S. Farmers and Consumers Could Pay if River Locks Fail
Checkoff-funded study finds that inland waterway system
continues to deteriorate
The Waterways Journal
26 January 2012
Up to 89 percent of U.S. soybeans exported through the lower
Mississippi ports, such as the port of New Orleans, arrive there
via the locks along the Mississippi River and other U.S. inland
waterways. With numbers like this, it’s apparent that these
waterways and the locks moving barges through them remain vital to
move U.S. soybeans and soy products. A United Soybean Board
(USB) Global Opportunities (GO) program-funded study found that
deteriorating concrete and failing electrical and mechanical
systems of major U.S. locks and dams could cause failures and
“…severe economic distress” for U.S. farmers and consumers.
“U.S. farmers should begin to understand that we can produce all
of the commodities that we want, but unless we have the
infrastructure to ship those products to their final destination,
we will not be successful in feeding our country and the world,”
says Laura Foell, soybean farmer from Schaller, Iowa, and chair of
the GO committee.
More than half of the locks and dams that currently make up the
U.S. Inland Marine Transportation System exceed their 50-year
usable lifespan, according to the report. More than one-third top
70 years of age, a concern because usually major rehabilitation is
necessary to expand the typical lifespan from 50 to 75 years,
according to the study.
Just on the Ohio River alone, the time locks have been out of
service has more than tripled since 2000, rising from 25,000 hours
to 80,000 annually. And that gets expensive. This study shows that
a three-month lock closure would increase the cost of transporting
5.5 million tons of oilseeds and grain, the average amount of
grain shipped by barge during that period, by $71.6 million. A
failure at any of the locks examined by the study could cost U.S.
farmers from up to $45 million in lost revenue.
“The lock and dam system is rapidly deteriorating which puts added
pressure on the rail and highway system to move our product from
the farm to its destination,” adds Foell. “It is important that we
have a robust transportation system. Only by using a combination
of the lock and dam system, rail system, and truck system can we
continue to be able to move our products in a manner that will
help us feed the world.”
Click here to read the full “America’s Locks & Dams:
A Ticking Time Bomb for Agriculture” study. USB and the
checkoff-funded Soy Transportation Coalition plan to examine new
and different ways to fund lock and dam and other rural
infrastructure improvements later this year.
Or entrer http://www.unitedsoybean.org . The full report is 8MB
and 325 pages