❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now
COVID-19

Shipping in the age of COVID-19

Kai Ryssdal and Bennett Purser Apr 1, 2020
HTML EMBED:
COPY
A tug pushes a barge down the Mississippi River through St. Paul, Minnesota. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
COVID-19

Shipping in the age of COVID-19

Kai Ryssdal and Bennett Purser Apr 1, 2020
A tug pushes a barge down the Mississippi River through St. Paul, Minnesota. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

While many of us are staying inside to curb the COVID-19 outbreak, some people are are still heading to work, to supply the economy with essential products. For many barge workers shipping products along America’s waterways, dangerous conditions can arise on the job even without an global pandemic.

Austin Golding is the president of Golding Barge in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about how his barge crews are navigating the coronavirus outbreak.

“The good news is while the guys are on the boat, they’re isolated,” Golding said. “The bad news is they can’t stay out there forever. So we have to have people come and go, and they know that they’re carrying a lot of the products that are going towards the fight against this virus.”

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.