Worsening drought conditions continued to impact water levels on the Mississippi River and its tributaries in late July, resulting in commercial navigation restrictions that are causing concerns for shippers of fertilizer and agriculture commodities.
Under the latest navigational restrictions determined by the commercial barge industry, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Weather Service, draft restrictions on the Lower Mississippi have dropped to 9 feet from Cairo, Ill., south to below Natchez, Miss., compared with 12-12.5 feet at normal river levels. Tow group restrictions on the Lower Mississippi are limited to 36 barges, compared with up to 45 barges at normal river levels. On the Upper Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio Rivers, typical tows are 15 barges.
Lt. Ryan Gomez of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Lower Mississippi River sector told Green Markets on July 26 that the restrictions are being evaluated on a daily basis.
“The implications of the drought conditions and low-water levels are a one-two punch for the economy, impacting both the agricultural community and one of the major modes of transporting agricultural and other essential products,” said Tom Allegretti, president and CEO of American Waterways Operators (AWO), a 350-member trade association representing the nation’s tugboat, towboat, and barge industry.
Allegretti noted that losing one foot of draft results in a loss of 204 tons of cargo capacity per barge. “When you consider that a typical tow on the Upper Mississippi or Ohio Rivers has 15 barges, a one-foot loss of draft will decrease the capacity of that tow by 3,000 tons,” he said.
A source with Louisiana barge line Sunn Logistics confirmed that drafts for northbound traffic on the Lower Mississippi were limited to a maximum of 9 feet, but the restrictions are changing “every few days.” Temporary river closures are occurring with more frequency as sandbars pop up and tows run aground, he said. These closures range from only a few hours to several days as dredges and tugs are called in to remedy the situation.
The Sunn Logistics source said the primary problem area is the Lower Mississippi. Conditions on the Arkansas River are not as severe, but he noted that access to the mouth of the Arkansas has been a problem due to tows running aground at that point. Lock closures due to maintenance have also limited barge activity on the Arkansas.
Drafts on some sections of the Ohio River were also reportedly limited to 9 feet in late July, and Missouri River sources reported draft limits of 8-8.6 feet last week.
Officials are already comparing this year’s drought and receding river levels to 1988. In that record drought year, river levels at Memphis, Tenn., reached an all-time low of minus 10.7 feet, and low water levels on the Mississippi and other navigable rivers cost the barge industry approximately $1 billion in extra expenses and lost business.
This year, river levels at Memphis had dropped to minus 6.9 feet by the morning of July 26, and were predicted to drop to minus 8 feet by the end of July, a full 56 feet lower than the river level reached at Memphis during the May 2011 flood. The extended forecast calls for the river to continue to drop to minus 9.6 feet on the Memphis gage by Aug. 22.
A source with Helm Fertilizer told Green Markets last week that the company can’t unload a barge at its Memphis terminal if water levels there drop to below minus 5 feet. “We haven’t been able to unload for about two weeks,” he said, adding that barges are instead diverted to an offsite location, where the fertilizer is unloaded and then trucked back to the Memphis plant.
Some terminals that are located directly on the main channel of the Lower Mississippi are still reportedly able