It would take 60 truck semi-trailers, like the one crossing the Missouri River bridge at Nebraska City, to haul the load of a typical river barge. With higher fuel prices, some industries are wondering if the river can return to its heyday as a water highway. Photo by Dan Swanson

With fuel prices reaching record highs, some Nebraska City officials are wondering if Morton Steinhart’s vision for the Missouri River might have been right after all.

The former president of Otoe Foods Products and later Morton House Kitchens, Steinhart declared in 1937 that a freight dock made economic sense and pushed for the creation of a municipal dock board.

Steinhart negotiated the first contracts for steel that came from Chicago 500 tons at a time. He organized efforts to build storage facilities for fertilizer coming up stream and grain that would head to the Gulf of Mexico.

By 1962, 2.25 million tons of freight moved between Omaha and Rulo and the tonnage grew to exceed 3 million by 1977.

River freighting today is not only 30 years beyond its peak, but barge traffic had dropped to levels over the past four years that predate the commercial dock here.

Pat Haverty of the River Country Economic Development Corporation said river transportation still makes economic sense, but drought and contested river management have made it unreliable.

Despite a decade-long drought in the upper river basin, the U.S. Corps of Engineers has released water in storage in upstream reservoirs to support river navigation over shortened seasons.

DeBruce Fertilizer, which leases Steinhart Terminal in Nebraska City, reports that barge companies lose interest in running the Missouri River when the water is low and political arguments arise over river management.

Denny Gibeson, vice president of fertilizer for DeBruce Grain, said that, along with the advent of water rights squabbles over the last three years, railway rates have gone up nearly 100 percent.

He said the company wants to use as many river barges as it can. “A barge can take 1,500 tons of product at a lower fuel cost than 60 trucks,” he said.

A typical barge will carry 1,500 tons of cargo, 15 times more than a railroad car and 60 times more than a semi-trailer. A line of trucks and semi-trailers three miles long would be expected to haul the tonnage of one barge.

Gibeson said rainfall this spring has improved the storage in upstream reservoirs, but barge companies will need to see stability before returning in large numbers.

“River transportation is an industry. It’s not something you turn off and on with a switch. It takes time for the barge companies to react,” he said.

“Economically, barge transportation works, but it’s a matter of getting all of the carriers that used to run on the river back because they have gone to rivers that do not have all the politics,” he said.

Haverty said the rising fuel costs have resulted in more interest in river transportation, but it’s too early to tell how it will play out.

“Nebraska City does see some potential industrial opportunities due to our proximity to the river and the development we have along the river; however, the level of the river from year to year does cause concerns,” he said.

“Historically, the river has been an important part of commerce,” he said.