Working near the Illinois, MO & MS river and I see tons of corn/soy beans that get sent down the river. It goes to various locations along the way. Some all the way to New Orleans where its loaded on bigger ships and taken over seas.WaldoWings said:TXCAV said:
I'm a hunting/fishing guide and grew up on the water, USCG Capt. I have personally also ran up on barges in the dark. It's easier than you think. Those barges when empty will tower over a small vessel. Yes they are required to have navigation lights, one red on port (left), one green starboard (right) and a white mast head light on the tug. The problem being is that even with normal visibility levels at night, no fog/rain/exc, when you are approaching a vessel of that size head on, the navigation lights of the barge may not easily be visible due to how high out of the water and how far apart the lights are. The lights will be mounted in the corner of the barge. The average barge can be <150ft long by <25ft wide, and when empty the top deck can be over 10ft above the water. A standard barge is 195' x 35'. For reference the average small vessel is less than 6ft wide. In the dark is it difficult to judge the distance at which the light is. I have seen double longs, double wides, and triples being pushed down the ICW. The tug is required to keep a watchstander 24/7 while the vessel is on the water. Should the watchstander see the vessel approaching and not giving way, they will use the massive spotlight and horn to get their attention.
Lately there has been a lot of boats headed out in the dark without running proper navigation lights, especially from duck hunters. Not sure behind their reasoning behind that, but its extremely dangerous. The one thing that remains the same from all these terrible incidents, as far as I know, no one was wearing their PFD. While a PFD may not save your life in the event of a catastrophic boating accident, it will make your body easier to recover. You may die from impact, propeller, exposure, exc, but your friends and family will have closure. No one is waterproof, it can happen to any one, and it has happened to the best of them. Be safe out on the water. Boater's education should be as heavily enforced and regulated as hunter's ed and a driving license.
Great post!
Being an inlander can someone explain what role barges play in shipping? Like, typically where they are coming from and going to and what they are transporting along the Texas coast?
Rail gets a fair amount of it, but I'd guess that barges move more, at least in this area.