Barges carrying grain and oil should not face any closures on the Mississippi River south of St. Louis while a sunken barge is salvaged, said the US Coast Guard.
"The last we were told by Marquette Transportation that the vessel traffic going through that area will not affect their salvage operation," said Lieutenant Junior Grade Chris Barger. "As of right now, there are no scheduled closures."
Vessels may be asked to reduce speed while going through the area near Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, between mile markers 130 and 145, he said. Earlier on Tuesday, grain traders said that section of the river would be temporarily closed for salvage operations.
A towboat owned by Marquette was towing 25 barges when it had mechanical problems and hit a dock on Sunday, breaking up the tow and sending the barges drifting. They were all recovered except for the corn barge, which went under about 1.5 miles south of where the accident happened. No one at Marquette was immediately available to comment.