Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals held its Spring 2023 Missouri River Basin meeting in Jefferson City on February 22^nd.  We had a wonderful turnout and some excellent collaboration.  Thanks to JF Brennan for Sponsoring this meeting as well!

As IRPT’s Board of Director’s election will take place at the general membership meeting during the Annual Conference (Sept. 19-21), we hope that you give consideration in nominating an interested member, or consider serving yourself. Please email aandres@irpt.net if you are interested in serving on IRPT’s Board of Directors representing the Missouri River Basin. According to the by-laws, the basin needs three directors. A ballot can be accessed here.

Below is a high-level recap of the meeting in case you missed it.

PROSODY

The meeting started off with a great presentation from Charles Brettell from Prosody Consulting talking about the benefits of a P3 (Public Private Partnerships)

Why use a P3?

• Everybody wins!
• Private party gets the use of a valuable asset at reduced Capex.
• Public party gets a happy private partner and an asset that reverts to the public benefit after the private party laves/ceases operations or asset us.

What is typically required for a P3?

• An eligible entity (a non – federal governmental entity)
• An eligible project
• A “nonfederal” (state, local government or private party match) of 20% to 50%.

I would encourage our members to contact Charles for additional details regarding the details of a Public Private Partnership (P3).

Maritime Administration (MARAD)

We then heard from Travis Black of MARAD regarding all of the funding opportunities from the federal level. I have attached his presentation.  Below are some highlights.

• The primary goal of MARAD is to increase national cargo capacity and improve the reliability of freight moving through ports.
• Reduce congestion.
• Drive electrification
• Make US ports more modern, resilient, and sustainable.
• Promote the waterways as efficient, effective, and sustainable transportation option.
• Support US competitiveness and expedite the flow of commerce across supply chains.
• These are funding programs that seems to get the most attention.
• Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (Raise)
• Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA)
• National Infrastructure Project Assistance (MEGA)
• United States Marine Highway Program (USMHP)
• Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP)
• Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (RURAL)
• A full list of programs can be found here.

MARAD is a clearinghouse for information and resources that may be useful in your project planning.  They can’t tell you WHAT to do, but they can certainly help you with HOW.  Particularly as it relates to Federal assistance Programs.

I highly suggest all our members to download the Port Planning and Investment Toolkit from the AAPA website.   Port Planning and Investment Toolkit (aapa-ports.org)

Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT)

Cheryl Ball with Missouri DOT discussed funding opportunities from the State level in Missouri.

U.S. Coast Guard, Sector Upper Mississippi River (DHS/USCG)

Next up was the USCG which gave overviews of the River Tender / ATON Service Updates

WAP Updates and Current / Future Initiatives

• Cutter Cheyenne
• New OIC: BMCM Tom Hines
• No planned 2023 maintenance periods
• Cutter Gasconade
• No Planned 2023 maintenance periods
• River Tender Recapitalization Update
• Contract awarded to BIRDON America who is working with Bollinger Shipyard to design and build the WCC-WLR variant. Expected completion 2026.
• WAP Updates
• Mid-March 2023 edition release
• Mostly administrative in nature (contact lists updated)
• Current and Future Initiatives
• Communicate spring opener ATON need assessment.
• Maintain Communication with stakeholders.
• USAC
• Maritime Industry
• OGA’s
• WCC Homeport recapitalization project.

1. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District (USACE)

Dane Morris and Mitch Roberts presented for the USACE to discuss Industry Communication, Surveys, Channel Marking, Prioritize repairs and Obstruction removal.

• Communication/Information Sharing
• Monthly partner calls – 4^th of every month at 3 PM
• BIL Navigation Kickoff Event on April 5 at the Missouri River office in Napoleon MO
• MO River Inspection and Barge Tour August 24.
• Kansas City Navigation Information
• https://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Navigation/
• Boat Reports – Weekly in winter; Daily during navigation flow support season
• Ice Report – Daily provided by Water Management Division
• Areas of Concern – Online form to submit navigation concerns
• Surveys – All navigation channel surveys posted 1-2 days following survey
• Gage Report – Daily stage data and 24-hr forecast
• Many additional links to additional information including forecasts and navigation charts
• Surveys, Channel Marking, Repairs and Obstruction Removal
• Bedrock and channel debris exposed due to channel degradation.
• >20 low water channel obstructions identified and surveyed.
• Navigation hazard in low water
• Pursuing removal of obstructions with available funding in 2023 – 24
• 2023 – RM 366 and RM 396
• 2024 – TBD
• Mitigating hazards through marking in electronic charts and coordination with USCG to buoy

Missouri River 10 Year Tonnage

IRPT is working diligently to provide additional value to our members.  Tonnage reporting is huge as we collaborate with the USACE, USCG as well as our leaders in Washington when asking for funds to keep our rivers maintained and open.  IRPT recently started gathering data for this very purpose.  As presented at the basin meeting, it’s clear that the Missouri River is GROWING!  Between 2019 and 2020 the Missouri river tonnage grew over 1.4 million tons.  By breaking out that tonnage, it’s clear that the growth has come from the Rock/Sand/Gravel/Salt (1.1 million tons), Grains/Food/Farm Products (262,000 tons) Other Minerals (55,200 tons) and Petroleum Products (16,550 tons).  You can access the tonnage report here. Unfortunately, we are now in 2023 and don’t have any recent tonnage.  As we speak with our leaders in Washington regarding funds for our rivers, we will also educate them on the difficulties of planning/managing our rivers without updated/real time information.

Also, as discussed, Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals has begun collecting information from each of the U.S. Army Corps Districts. Information sought includes the level of maintenance backlog of projects needed in order to operate and manage a resilient and sustainable river for transportation. IRPT intends to use this information to inform our 118^th Congress on the needs of our Army Corps and the level of funding needed to remain a competitive river-transportation serving country.

International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE)

Please don’t forget, the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE) will host an Inland Marine Port Manager and Inland Marine Port Executive Class in Kansas City May 1-5, 2023. You can access a course description here: https://www.irpt.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMPM-IMPE-IRPT-Basin-Handout.pdf