Corps of Engineers releases Lock and Dam 4 statistics for the 2013 navigation season

ST. PAUL, Minn. – There were 3,250 lockages at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District’s Lock and Dam 4, near Alma, Wis., during the 2013 navigation season.

The total lockages included 1,131 from commercial navigation; 2,065 recreational boat lockages and 54 additional lockages from government watercraft or a similar group. There were 5,351 recreational vessels that were locked through. Typically, the lock operator will allow multiple recreation boats within the chamber during a lock.

The commercial navigation industry transported 6,761,090 tons of commodities through the lock during the season. During the 2012 navigation season, 7,709,332 tons of cargo passed through the lock.

The season unofficially ended when the Motor Vessel Ginger Griffin New passed through Lock and Dam 2, near Hastings, Minn., Nov. 27. The season started April 8 when the Motor Vessel Roberta Tabor reached
St. Paul. Minn. The Motor Vessel Show Me State was the last tow of the 2012 season, and she locked through Lock and Dam 2, Nov. 28, 2012.

Navigation statistics fluctuate from year to year, depending on the weather, river flows and the length of the navigation season. The St. Paul District maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. In 2012, 13.5 million tons of commodities were shipped on the Mississippi River with the St. Paul District’s area of operation, including 7 million tons of grain grown in the Upper Midwest. The industries making these shipments saved nearly $288 million by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, constructed Lock and Dam 4 in 1935 and maintains it to this day. A major rehabilitation of this lock occurred from 1988 to 1994.

The nearly 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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