https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-10-14-barge-pocalypse-unfolding-as-rivers-dry-up.html#
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, now there’s a “barge-pocalypse” unfolding that you might find rather disturbing. This is a problem with massive global implications that very few people saw coming because barges don’t exactly attract a lot of attention. But they are critical for efficient transportation of crops and coal, and when the barges stop running, the world is in serious trouble.
As FreightWaves.com explains, barges are far more important to the world economy than you might imagine:
- About 60% of the grain and 54% of the soybeans for U.S. export are moved via barges.
- Barges touch more than a third of America’s exported coal.
- 92% of the nation’s agricultural output comes from the Mississippi River Basin.
- One 15-barge tow can carry the same amount of freight as two 108-car freight trains or a whopping 1,050 semi-trucks, according to the American Waterways Operators.
- With just 1 gallon of fuel, a barge can chug along for 616 ton-miles, compared to 478 ton-miles for rail and 150 ton-miles for trucks.
In other words, barges are by far the most fuel-efficient and cost effective way to move goods. This is why, of course, many of the world’s largest cities are located on rivers. It’s all about trade and transportation.
But when geoengineering is being actively pursued (see White House geoengineering programs, below) to weaponize the weather and cause droughts, the rivers run dry and barges run aground. This turns the river into a giant logjam of stuck barges, and that’s exactly what’s beginning to happen with the Mississippi River.