COMMERCE: BARGES

Each year 2867 barges leave the Minnesota River Terminals at Savage, filled with corn, soybeans, and wheat. This is the second leg of the journey that began in the farm fields of southwestern Minnesota, and continues on to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico, where the grains are transferred to cargo ships, which will take them the rest of the way on their voyage to the markets of the world.

Barges also deliver such commodities as fertilizer, salt, aggregate, and petroleum products to the terminals at Burnsville and Savage.

It is estimated that this river traffic and the associated jobs, generate one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000.00) annually towards the Minnesota economy.

It is the Districts charge to insure the Army Corp of Engineers has a place to deposit the dredge materials, which are removed, from the riverbed during dredge maintenance operations.

Nationwide, in fact, barges keep the economy moving and the environment safer.