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Flood waters impacting barge traffic
The USDA’s new Grain Transportation Report says floods caused by heavy rainfall are restricting major shipping routes.
The USDA says widespread flooding across the Ohio, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers is making it more challenging to move commodities.
Barge tow sizes on the lower Mississippi River have been reduced from 40 to 30 barges on the lower Mississippi, and traffic is restricted to daytime passage at Memphis and Vicksburg. The Army Corps of Engineers has closed three sets of locks on the Ohio River. The Army Corps of Engineers says the Markland Locks southwest of Cincinnati, the McAlpine Locks at Louisville, Kentucky and the Smithland Kentucky Locks are all closed to barge traffic.
The USDA says Barge grain movements for the week ending February 24th totaled more than 418 thousand tons, but it was 27% lower than the previous week and 22% lower than the same week in 2017.
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