The first tow of the 2025 navigation season has arrived in St. Paul, Minn., marking the start of river shipping on the Upper Mississippi. The M/V Neil N. Diehl locked through Lock and Dam 2 in Hastings, Minn., on March 19, pushing nine barges to St. Paul, the final port to open each year due to ice in Lake Pepin.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District noted that the typical first tow arrival falls in the third week of March. Last year, the M/V Joseph Patrick Eckstein reached St. Paul on March 17. The earliest recorded arrival was March 4, in 1983, 1984, and 2000, USACE said.
With navigation underway, the Mississippi River will continue to serve as a key transport route for commodities such as fertilizers needed for U.S. agriculture. USACE said the St. Paul District maintains the river’s 9' deep navigation channel and operates 12 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa.
Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy, USACE said, before noting a 15-barge tow is the equivalent to more than 1,000 semi-trailers or 200 rail cars. One barge, USACE noted, can carry more than 50,000 bushels of wheat, or enough to make around 2.1 million loaves of bread.
