ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — Some Berrien County companies face an uncertain future, after commercial docks along the St. Joseph River Harbor were suddenly forced to shut down this week. It happened late Monday night after a barge trying to deliver to Central Dock Company got stuck.

The Captain of the Pere Marquette 41 barge tried to reach the central docks for several hours, but couldn’t get past the Blossomland railroad bridge, even with a tugboat pushing and pulling it.

Dock workers say the barge was loaded with 5,000 tons of sand and rock — the same load it carried during its last trip to the Harbor in December. Dock workers say the barge made that delivery without a problem.

This time, because the river is down more than three feet in some spots where sand and silt have built up, the barge got stuck. The cause is a bit ironic. Because of a wet end to winter with heavy rain and snow melt, the river level actually went down.

All the melt water caused sand and silt on the rivers banks to fill into the narrow trenches cut into the river bed.

It was a frightening sight for Pete Berghoff.

After nearly 30 years working the docks at "Dock 63" in St. Joseph, he thought he'd seen it all. But when he looked just beyond the business he now owns, he frowned.

"The water's down, and the bottom's up," he said. "Some of the larger ships require up to 24 feet of displacement. And we’ve been running about 20 feet. But now, it’s 18 or 19 feet. In some spots, it’s 16 feet. None of the big boats will come in here. With diesel fuel being what it is, they will not run at 16 feet."

And they weren't supposed to.

Berghoff says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to dredge the harbor this month. Because of permit problems and a lack of funding, the work was pushed back to July.

It could mean big problems to Dock 63. But you could feel the effects of a shutdown, too.

“If you’re within 60 miles of this dock, this port has touched what you’re walking on, living on, shopping on, or worshipping in,” he said. “It’s touched it in some way, shape or form with the most basic of products.”

That includes nearly all the road salt used across Michiana, and 90 percent of the limestone used in concrete for everything from sidewalks to skyscrapers from South Bend to Kalamazoo.

It all comes through the St. Joseph docks.

If it has to be trucked in from farther away, Berghoff says the price tag on major projects like a planned resurfacing and bridge replacement on Interstate-94 at U.S. 131 could triple.

Berghoff says it won’t take long until that becomes a reality. During the summer months, he averages three to four shipments of stone and sand a month. But his last shipment was nearly three months ago, and his current inventory is almost gone.

“This pile will last me until the end of May, maybe,” he said pointing at one of the only towering pile of stone left near the docks. “If it isn’t dredged by then, we’ll be out of stone. Period. We’d shut down.”

It’s already happened to Berghoff’s next door neighbor. All was quiet Wednesday at Central Dock. No piles. No machinery at work. No materials anywhere in sight.

It's one reason why some say the problem can't be ignored any longer.

"We worked on this all day today,” said U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R- St. Joseph) from Washington, D.C. “The Army Corps [of Engineers] is going to be on site tomorrow taking fathoms to see how deep it is between the railroad bridge and the Paw Paw River. And based on what they find, we're prepared to act to see if we can't get some emergency dredging within literally the next week or two."

If not, Berghoff isn't sure how long he can stay open.

"It'll be a six figure loss," said Berghoff.

His bottom line now?

Get rid of the bottom, or sink.

"If we don't get dredged, we're out of business," he said.

Rep. Upton says it’s likely the Army Corps of Engineers can perform the emergency dredging by using part of the $950,000 earmarked by Congress to dredge the entire harbor later this year, or use federal funding designated for dredging along other parts of Lake Michigan.

Berghoff says this type of emergency dredging means a narrow channel would be cut under the river’s surface, and would only temporarily solve the problem. That portion of the river has been dredged at least three times since 2000.

Bids were opened on March 18 for dredging in the outer portion of the harbor, and Upton says it could be expanded to the inner portion as well.

The Environmental Protection Agency still has to sign off on where the dredged material can be dumped, and Upton says that can take several weeks.

WSBT’s calls to the Army Corps of Engineers were not returned Wednesday.