The largest towboat in America put its considerable horsepower toward promoting river commerce Thursday as host to a public tour of the Arkansas River near Pine Bluff.
The Motor Vessel Mississippi has the ability to push up to 25 barges, but on Thursday its cargo was about 75 visitors who rode from the Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam near Wright to the Emmett Sanders Lock and Dam at Pine Bluff and on southward toward the Mississippi River. The tour began earlier this week in Fort Smith.
Along the way, the guests discussed a myriad of issues related to the river.
Four billion dollars in supplies were transported along the 445-mile McClellan-Kerr Navigation System of the Arkansas River in 2013, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers engineer John Balgavy of the Little Rock district.
“Hundreds of jobs depend on the commodities of just one shipment of steel,” Balgavy said. “Shipping goods is cheaper than highway or railway.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Congress funds $38 million per year to the corps to care for the entire 445-mile McClellan-Kerr Navigation System, Balgavy said. The corps spends $3.5 million annually to dredge about 10 sections of the navigation system, and the river contains spots that are naturally deeper than nine feet, he said. In addition, the corps has constructed rock structures in the Arkansas River that keep the navigation channel at least nine feet deep, he said.
“Congress authorized a 12-foot channel in 2005, but Congress did not fund a 12-foot channel,” Balgavy said. “The shippers would love a 12-foot channel. They would be able to load more cargo.”
The U.S. Congress approved a $12.3 billion water resources bill in May that includes funding to dredge the river at a depth to support heavier barges and to maintain its locks and dams. However, this money has not been allocated yet.
“We have equipment that is 45 years old that needs to be replaced,” Balgavy said. “We are at a point where we need funding to prevent a traumatic failure. A failure of a lock or dam would put us out of business. And that would be a failure.”
Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County President and CEO Lou Ann Nisbett said the Arkansas River is a huge part of the local economy. It supports many jobs at the Port of Pine Bluff and industries that receive materials from the river.
“Pine Bluff was one of the first cities with a port in Arkansas,” Nisbett said. “Barging is the most effective way of transportation. It is cheaper than rail and highways.”
The Port of Pine Bluff welcomes shipments of grains, fills, corn, logs, wood chips, soybeans, paper, pine bark, fertilizer, steel pipes and vermiculite, she said. The Port of Pine Bluff is a slackwater harbor with calm water, making it an ideal condition to load barges, Nisbett said.
“We receive shipments and products from all over the world,” Nisbett said. “They can load more on the barges if the Arkansas River is at least 12 feet deep.”
Ed Thompson operated the Pine Bluff Port River Terminal from 1969 to 1995 and then owned the Pine Bluff Port Terminal from 2002 to 2010. He saw a lot of changes in commerce along the Arkansas River over the decades.
“We unloaded the first barge in Pine Bluff in 1969,” he said. “The barges coming to Pine Bluff opened up world markets and afforded lower prices than either rail or truck. A barge will hold 60 to 75 18-wheeler truckloads or equal to 20 rail cars.
“There were lots of changes both in the river and with the commerce,” Thompson said. “Commodities change. The public port used to have International Paper Company as its No. 1 client.”
The ships transport goods from China, Japan and European nations, Thompson said.
Thompson said the shippers prefer the river be at least 12 feet deep to support their heaviest loads of freight. They do not want the currents to be too strong, as in decades past barges lost their loads, he said.
The Strong Company receives shipments of a rock through the port called vermiculite that comes from South African mines, company president Tim DeJarnette said. Vermiculite is used to produce deck-insulating concrete. The Strong Company has used the Port of Pine Bluff since 1973.
“Water levels are absolutely crucial to the flow of commerce and our success,” DeJarnette said. “A deeper channel of the river will optimize our barge shipments. It will optimize our economies of scale. If we had to bring in vermiculite by highway or rail, we would be hard-pressed.”
Arkansas Waterways Commission spokeswoman Katie McManners said the commission is allowing public ports to apply for grant money to support capital improvement projects such as improving roads leading to the port or dredging the section of river around the port. The commission will be awarding the grants in November, she said.
“The authorized depth of the Arkansas River is nine feet deep, so a barge loaded to that depth will not run aground,” McManners said. “We make sure bridges have appropriate clearance, making sure the locks and dams can operate.”