Six Illinois Locks & Dams to close July 1

[bn13814]

PEORIA (WEEK)- Six Illinois Locks & Dams will close starting July 1 to work on a four month project.

The closing of the locks and dams means farmers will need to use a new form of transportation as barges will no longer be able to travel along the Illinois River.

https://week.com/2020/06/30/six-illinoi ... 1gqp7M7Ri0

[DennisinMH]

How will this affect farmers economically who have grain or other goods that need to be shipped? (From storage in elevators)

[kevwr1962]

How will this affect farmers economically who have grain or other goods that need to be shipped? (From storage in elevators)

I can't answer this for every farmer out there, but my grandparents were farmers. They paid an elevator/grain company to store what they couldn't then sold it to the elevator/grain company when they felt the time was right. The elevator/grain company sent them a check. What the elevator does from there, I don't know. What they stored on the farm was also sold to the same grain company. They did no shipping on their own. I think it won't affect farmers until harvest if there is nowhere to store the grain. While soy beans might not be an issue, field corn will be more than ready to store by then.

[SNMehr]

When the water level becomes very low it will be interesting to see what sorts of items will be found silted up at the bottom.

[bn13814]

How will this affect farmers economically who have grain or other goods that need to be shipped? (From storage in elevators)

Grain can be stored but if it needs to be moved now, alternative transportation must be arranged. Grain now trucked to the Illinois River will probably move by rail to the nearest open loading facility, probably Granite City or Cahokia. Some western Illinois farmers have the option of trucking to Mississippi River ports.

As for other products, dry bulk phosphate fertilizer shipped from southwest Florida by barge (via the Inter-Coastal Waterway to New Orleans) can [and often already does] move by rail to Growmark and Mosaic terminals south of Peoria.

Liberty Steel & Wire Co. appears to make regular use of its barge facility, so rail and truck will have to be used until the Illinois River is open again.

ADM ships grain mash from its Cedar Rapids, Iowa plant by rail to its Wesley Road barge facilities year-round. This product will likely move by rail beyond Peoria (via Canadian National) to Granite City or another Metro East riverport.

The closure comes during an off-peak period for river traffic. A large volume of export-bound potash shipped from Saskatchewan by rail to Mosaic's facility south of Peoria usually runs November to April, though occasional movements are made year-round. The grain rush starts in October, however, so agricultural products normally shipped by river will have to use rail or truck for awhile.

Ozinga's sand and gravel pit just north of Henry relies on barges, so it will have to use truck or rail as an alternative.

[DennisinMH]

"The closure comes during an off-peak period for river traffic."

I would think spring and summer would be the peak period for river traffic, as sometimes the river freezes over in winter. I know it didn't this past winter, though.

[bn13814]

"The closure comes during an off-peak period for river traffic."

I would think spring and summer would be the peak period for river traffic, as sometimes the river freezes over in winter. I know it didn't this past winter, though.

Peak volume on the Illinois River is winter for two primary reasons:

(1) The Illinois generally does not freeze, because of a narrower channel, i, e. faster moving waters.

(2) The Upper Mississippi River is closed from early December until early March for lock maintenance, regardless of ice.

The latter shifts a large volume of traffic (mostly grain and grain products) to Illinois River ports. A perennial example is grain mash and/or gluten feed pellets shipped from ADM's Clinton, Iowa wet corn mill and distillery complex. The plant has barge access on the Mississippi River, but when that is not available in winter, it moves by rail (Canadian Pacific, Iowa Interstate and Tazewell & Peoria RR) to ADM's docks on Wesley Road in Creve Coeur. During this time, Grain Processing Corp. on Muscatine, Iowa also sends grain products to Peoria-area barge loadouts using these same railroads.

[born2race2win1954!]

When the water level becomes very low it will be interesting to see what sorts of items will be found silted up at the bottom.

It should be interesting for sure, Boats, cars, etc.