by Rachel Premack, Activist Post:
You probably do not spend much time thinking about barges. This is something that you ought to change.
The barge industry is quite important. It’s crucial for moving aluminum, petroleum, fertilizer and coal, particularly on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. About 60% of the grain and 54% of the soybeans for U.S. export are moved via the noble barge. Barges touch more than a third of our exported coal as well.
Right now the barge industry — and all of us who depend on its wares — is mired in a crisis. Water levels on the Mississippi River Basin are at its lowest point in more than a decade.
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The timing for such a drought is pretty bad. Right now is harvest season, so farmers are looking to move their wares. Ongoing labor strife on the nation’s railways also renders that backup network uncertain.
Halted or slowed barge traffic is worrisome for the world at large too. American exports of coal are key right now as Europe faces a massive energy crisis heading into winter. “Any snags threaten to disrupt trade at a time when coal demand is soaring as Europe weathers an energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine,” as Bloomberg reported on Oct. 6.
Exports of grain and soybeans are also important right now, because we’re facing a shortage of those commodities amid the war in Ukraine.
“We’re taking a huge capacity hit,” said Sandor Toth, president of barge market intelligence firm Criton Corp.
The drought caused a 100-boat clog last week
Low water levels and dredging shuttered barge traffic heading north and south on the Mississippi last week. At one point, more than 100 towboats and 2,000 barges were stuck waiting. The blocked-off section of the river, between Louisiana and Mississippi, reopened Monday. Traffic is limited to one way, according to Petty Officer Jose Hernandez of the U.S. Coast Guard.
That’s certainly better than zero-way traffic, but the Mississippi is still expected to become even more parched. Lisa Parker, a representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told FreightWaves that drier conditions are expected over the next several weeks. The river is slurping up water reserves right now, Parker added, but those reserves will eventually run out.
“The bottom line is we need rain,” Parker said.
Barge rates up around 200%
Current rates reveal how stark the barge capacity crunch is.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the cost of moving grain via barge from St. Louis was 218% higher year over year during the week of Oct. 4. Shipments from Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky, popped by 196% over the same time period.
Let’s talk about why we need barges
While you were too busy praising trucks, planes and trains, you forgot to respect our barge industry. Some 92% of the nation’s agricultural output comes from the Mississippi River Basin. Some of that is consumed domestically and some is exported to places like China, South Korea and Mexico.
Barges are a quick and easy way to export agricultural goods. 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, which describes itself as “the tugboat, towboat and barge industry’s advocate, resource and united voice.”
