The Mississippi River Is Drying Up Again

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The droughts that have hampered barge traffic on the Mississippi have risen and fallen based on rain and floods along a proportion of its 2,300 mile length. Barge costs have risen once again,as the river has hit a low point along some of its length, And the low water levels affect other parts of the economy.

According to Marine Link, “Low water levels are slowing export-bound barge shipments of grain and oilseeds from the Midwest farm belt for a third straight year, making U.S. exports less competitive in a world market awash in supplies – just as farmers are set to harvest a record soy and large corn crop and as prices hover near four-year lows.” The low water level causes impediments like sandbars to curtain navigation

Strong Harvest

There was an assumption that strong grains harvested across the agricultural Plains states would keep related prices low. Transportation Topics says otherwise. “It’s at low enough stages that the barge industry, and navigation industry, has to be sensitive how much draft, how much load, they can put on barges” to prevent vessels from running aground,

The two primary reasons this is of concern are the lives and water supplies along the river. The other in inflation. Barges that cannot move are a break in the supply chain. Although not as significant as the dought plagued Amazon and war plagued Suez, they have a similar but more modest effect

Inflation

As inflation comes down, the environment may be the largest risk to driving it back up