WASHINGTON – Low water on the Mississippi River has forced shipping companies to operate shorter barge arrays to avoid hanging up on the river bottom at sharp bends. The problem is especially acute south St. Louis, but the shorter arrays also mean fewer barges are moving from Upper Mississippi ports like Winona. The latest Grain Transportation Report from the U.S. Agriculture Department, showed 480,000 tons of grain in transit the last week of August a 17% drop from the previous week. Farmers are caught unable to sell their crops for downriver shipping to oceanic cargo ships on the Gulf Coast. The traditional business model has been shipping by barge. Truck and rail are too expensive
Short array. The Clayton Whorter churns out of the lock near Red Wing with a short assemblage of barges — only 12. Upper Mississippi shipping is most cost-effective with 15 barges, sometimes as many as 17, lashed together.
Downriver bottleneck
Drought in the upper Ohio River Valley has diminished the volumatic flow rate into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. The result: The Mississippi is running low all the way to New Orleans.