St. Paul, Minnesota really is a river town and there are people who live in boats on the river and people who live on the shore. The shipping season is almost over for the year.
The river doesn’t freeze solid at least not the part near downtown. The shipping season for Minnesota started on March 17th this year when the first barges and tow boats came up from Redwing. The season usually starts on March 20th on average and ends around November 18th.
Barges are a relatively inexpensive and efficient shipping method that we really don’t even think about. One barge can hold 1,500 tons or 52,500 bushels or 453,600 gallons. it isn’t unusual to see one town boat pushing half a dozen barges along the river. Shipping by barge requires less fuel than any other method of shipping and is safer. [See shipping comparisons]
Tow Boat in front of the Comcast building.
