MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Barge traffic has been stalled on the lower Mississippi because river shipping channels have dropped too low. At one point 144 vessels and 2,253 barges were lined up and waiting to get through low water near Memphis and just north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Many of these barges were carrying grain from Winona and other Upper Midwest ports to New Orleans for transoceanic shipment or returning empty upriver for new more loads. Also, some barges heading upriver were loaded with fertilizer that farmers need for their next planting Meanwhile, The Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers were working to free eight barges stuck in river-bottom mud and blocking the main channels. It’s possible some barges may need to lightened by removing 20% of their cargo so they buoy higher in the water to resume their passage. Also barge units normally comprised of 30 to 40 barges on the Lower Mississippi may need to be. broken into 25-barge units to to fit through narrowed channels.
Drought effects
The Mississippi is running low because of widespread droughts. Major tributaries are slack. like the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois; the Missouri at St. Louis, Missouri; and the Arkansas, north of Greenville Mississippi.