Page 26: of Marine News Magazine (February 2016)

25 27

COLUMN DREDGING AND INFRASTRUCTURE

The Mississippi River and the 2016 Flood’s Impact on Dredging

By Sean Duffy

The Mighty Mississippi River con- nects 31 states and 2 Canadian Prov- inces by a liquid superhighway that includes over 250 tributaries and fea- tures more miles of inland waterways than the rest of the world combined.

As I contemplate my thoughts on the importance of this great river system, there is no doubt that muddy water

Duffy also runs through my veins. Neverthe- less, much of my advocacy involves explaining to others not so closely in tune with this economic superhighway as to just how important it truly is.

OLLOW THE ONEY

F M

The Mississippi River is our country’s river, a history our heritage and all of that embodies our prosperity. The

American farmer remains competitive in world markets because of the cost savings offered by waterborne trans- portation that connects the over 350 million acres of farm land to world markets. This month, however, Reuters re- ported that not one, but two cargoes of Argentine wheat were scheduled to arrive at Wilmington, North Carolina, indicating a rare situation where U.S. buyers actually found it cheaper to purchase imported grain than abun- dant domestic supplies. Surely, some of that price advan- tage stems from cheaper grain from South America. No doubt, the challenged state of U.S. locks, waterways and channels (not dredged to their controlling depths) had something to do with it, as well. dredging contractors were businessman too and that

Separately, dismal U.S. per capita investment in in- investing in a new dredge large enough to work on the frastructure ranks us globally at 143rd, or about $18 nation’s deep-draft channels meant investing between dollars per capita. Well before those numbers became $125 to $175 million dollars in one piece of equipment. public, however, I attempted to determine why naviga- In order to make such a large investment, the business tion folks apparently did not like dredging contractors model must predict a sizeable return on investment. and ultimately, my conclusion was that it was all about The ? rst real agreement I reached with dredge contrac- funding. If the Corps of Engineers was properly funded tors was that the Harbor Maintenance Tax and related and dredges were available then our channels would be Trust Fund had to be unlocked. The surplus of over $9 maintained at fully authorized dimensions and in the end billion unaccounted for dollars generated by this ad va- everyone would be happy with ? uid commerce. lorem tax has to be allocated for what it was originally

At the same time, I also came to understand that intended for.

February 2016

MN 26

MN Feb16 Layout 18-31.indd 26 1/21/2016 11:30:58 AM