HASTINGS, Minn. — The Army Corps of Engineers, which controls navigable waterways within U.S. borders, declared the whole Mississippi open for the 2024 shipping season. It happened Sunday night when the M.V. Joseph Patrick Eckstein pushed 12 barges through the Hastings lock – at the last dam before the head of navigation at Twin Cities ports. The inaugural Hastings passage means all of the Upper Mississippi locks are ice-free and accessible to commercial and recreational vessels. The average start date of the navigation season historically is March 22. The earliest was March 4, in 1983, 1984 and 2000.
At mile-marker 815 at Hastings. The M.V. Joseph Patrick Eckstein revs its 6,100-horsepower engines to clear Lock and Dam Number 2. The pusher-tug is operated by Marquette Transportation of Paducah, Kentucky. Built 1978.