® NAVIGATION

US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS  MISSISSIPPI VALLEY DIVISION  BUILDING STRONG®

INTRODUCTION

As the world’s leading maritime and trading nation, the 

United States relies on an efficient Maritime 

Transportation System to maintain its role as a global 

power. The federal government’s involvement in 

navigation projects dates to the early days of the United 

States, when rivers and coastal harbors were the primary 

paths of commerce in the new country.

Today, navigable inland waterways provide a costeffective means for moving major bulk commodities, 

such as grain, coal and petroleum. Inland navigation is a 

key element of state and local government economic 

development and job-creation efforts, and is essential in 

maintaining economic competitiveness and national 

security.

The responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is 

to facilitate the safe, reliable and economically efficient 

movement of vessels, and it does so by constructing and 

maintaining navigation channels and harbors, and 

regulating water levels on inland waterways.

NAVIGATION

• 4,267 miles of commercial waterways

− 11 Inland Waterway systems

− 19 other waterway systems

− 1/3 of U.S. inland waterways

− Moves 47% of U.S. inland waterborne commerce

• 669 million tons of cargo move on the Mississippi 

River system each year

• Main Commodities: petroleum & petroleum products, 

crude materials, food & farm products, chemicals and 

related products, primary manufactured goods, and 

coal

• 7 deep-draft ports 

• 51 shallow-draft ports 

• $6.2 billion in domestic transportation savings.
• 62 locks:

− 29 on Mississippi River

− 8 on Illinois River

− 6 on Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, LA

− 5 on Red River, LA

− 4 on Ouachita & Black Rivers, AR & LA

− 1 on Kaskaskia River, IL

− 1 on Old River, LA

− 1 on Bayou Teche, LA

− 3 on Atchafalaya Basin, LA

− 1 on Freshwater Bayou, LA

− 3 on West Pearl River, LA

NAVIGATION BENEFITS

• $1.75 trillion value of cargo moved through 

seaports in 2015. 

• 1.4 billion metric tons of overseas cargo 

handled by seaports in 2015.

• 23 million American jobs supported by 

seaports each year.

• 26 percent of the United States economy is 

related to seaports.

• $320+ billion in federal, state and local tax 

revenues. 

• 95 percent of overseas trade is via ship.

• Inland navigation provides a safe and cost 

efficient alternative to truck and train and 

provides billions in transportation savings 

annually. It also reduces highway congestion 

and pollution.

• New Orleans area is the #1 port in the 

United States based on tonnage.

WATERWAYS TRANSPORTATION ... IT’S 

EFFICIENT, ENVIRONMENTALLY 

RESPONSIBLE AND SAFE

Waterways provide great cargo capacity and 

move freight more safely than truck or rail. In 

fact, they carry the equivalent of 58 million 

truck trips per year, with room to spare. 

If waterborne cargo were diverted to highway 

or rail:

• Truck traffic would double on the Interstates

• Rail tonnage would increase by 25 percent
One common barge tow carries the 

load of hundreds of rail cars or 

trucks

Ton-miles traveled per gallon of fuel

Barges can move one ton of cargo 616 miles per 

gallon of fuel. A rail car would move the same 

ton of cargo 478 miles, and a truck only 150 

miles.

Tons of C02 per million ton-miles

Barges have the smallest carbon footprint 

among other transportation modes. 

To move an identical amount of cargo by rail 

generates 30 percent more carbon dioxide than 

by barge, and 1,000 percent more emissions by 

trucks than by barge. 

Information and graphics courtesy of National Waterways Foundation.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  1400 Walnut Street, Vicksburg, MS 39180  www.mvd.usace.army.mil

May 2019

1. Upper St. Anthony Falls, missing contact block, 

Oct. 9-11, 2014.

2. Lock 18, anchor bar, June 25-26, 2014.

3. Lockport, emptying valve failure, June 21-22, 

2015; debris blocking miter gate, Nov. 25-26, 

2017.

4. Dresden Island, strut arm failure, Nov. 3-4, 

2015.

5. Mel Price, main chamber lift gate cables, Dec. 

28, 2013, to Aug. 8, 2014 (closed 224 days); 

main chamber upstream lift gate 

cracked,(closed15 days between Feb. 2016 & 

Dec. 2017).

6. Lock 27, protection cell, Sep. 2012 (closed six 

days), $16 million in transportation impacts. 

May 4, 2019 Aux. lock closed due to failure of 

miter gate anchorage

7. Red River Lock 2, strut arm bushing failure, 

April 2012 (closed 15 days).

8. Jonesville Lock, hydraulic cylinder failure, Sep. 

22-26, 2014.

9. Bayou Sorrel Lock, hydraulic pump failure, Jan. 

28-29, 2014.

10. Algiers, closed March 27, 2013, to July 18, 

2013, (112 days, $146 million in transportation 

impacts).

11. Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, queue 86+ 

days; Jan. 4-14, 2014; May 29-30, 2014.

12. Harvey Lock, gate machinery, Feb. 15-18, 

2013; March 17-31, 2014; June 26-30, 2014.

13. Columbia L&D, sand boil in lock chamber, Nov. 

12, 2015, to Dec. 16, 2016.; Jul. 10, 2018 to ~ 

July 2019.

14. Lock 15, miter gate limit switch and strut arm, 

March 26-28, 2015; March 2016.

15. Starved Rock, broken strut arm, Nov. 16-17, 

2016.

16. Marseilles, miter gate, March 2013 (closed 

seven days) & miter gate machinery, Feb. 8-10, 

2014.

17. Lock 19, PLC errors, Oct. 29-30, 2017.

18. Brandon Road, miter gate, Aug. 1-2, 2017.

19. Calcasieu River, saltwater barrier tainter gate 

failure, Jan. 1, 2018.

2012-2019 MAJOR LOCK 

OUTAGES

Averaging one failure every 2.7 months; a total of 506 days, 

which equates to $600 million + economic impacts.