b'6American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comStuck in the Mississippi mud AGRICULTURAL SHIPPING 2022U.S.agriculturalexportsfallvictimtodrought andlowriverlevels.Theconundrumoftheag transportationisthebargesontheMississippi River move north-to-south while rail routes run east-to-west.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTAs if North American supplyticularly slow in the month of chainsneededanotherchal- September,saidthereport. lenge,adroughtthatbeganExports picked up in Octo-inthesummerof2020hasberbutwerestillgenerally compromisedfreightbargedownrelativetothethree-trafficontheMississippiyear average, a phenomenon River.Record-lowOctobernot seen since the tariff wars waterlevelsontheriveratof 2018, when China imposed Memphis measured nearly 11retaliatory tariffs of 25% on feet lower than the previousU.S.soybeans,leadingtoa record set in 1988.collapse in export demand. To accommodate a shal- Theslowdowninsoy-lowerdraft,operatorsmustbeanexportsiscontributing reduceloadsoneachbargeto depressed U.S. agricultural and the number of barges thatexportvolumesgenerally, are lashed together in a tow.according to projections from Atypicalbargecanaccom- (STUCKcontinued on modate50,000bushelsofpage 8)soybeans, and a 15-barge tow cancarry750,000bushels. Eachfootofreducedwater depthrequiresasmuchas 6,700 fewer bushels of soy-beans being loaded per barge, or over 100,000 bushels per tow. Withbargesaccommo-datinglowervolumes,the capacity oftheriversystem as a whole becomes limited, and that increases the costs of transportation. Accordingtoareport releasedbytheDepartment of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University ofIllinoisatUrbana-Cham-paign, barge rates on the riverRaising capacity. Lowering temperatures. havehistoricallymovedin the$20pertonrange.But in mid-October of this year,Exceeding expectations.barge spot rates in St. Louis hit $106 per ton before fall-ing to $88 per ton later in the month.Forwardrateswere also elevated, although not to the same extent. One-month contracts in St. Louis fetched $59pertoninNovember, while a three-month contract cost $34 per ton. Bleed Size:Close Date: I mpaCt ons oybeane xportsTherecordlowMissis-Lowering Temperatures American Journal of Transportation Half Page 8x 10 .125 12/09/22sippi River has led to a severe disruption in the barge trans-portation system vital for the shipmentofgrainsandfarm inputs, said the report. We Title: Pub: Trim Size:Job #: Colors: continue to observe an extreme divergence between the Gulf and regions along the river, leading to elevated price pre- Welcome to done.-NCP_LoweringTemperatures_AJOT_8x10_k1miumsalongtheGulfand deterioratingpricesinland.Ice cold. And blazing fast. Thats NC Ports. Were known for having the best turn times on the East Coast. ThenumberofgrainbargesWe also simplify logistics, reduce shipping headaches and create customized solutions that make unloaded in New Orleans thisthings happen. In the world of cold chain, we power possibilities. And were just warming up.yearthroughOctoberwas downbyasmuchasNC Ports 30%20077 InDesign CC 4C 800.213.4430 // NCPorts.com20077compared to recent years. ThesebargedisruptionsFile Name:Client: App: comeataparticularlybad time for U.S. soybeans. Three- fifthsofallsoybeanexports occurbetweenOctoberand January,and94%ofU.S. soybean exports rely on Mis-sissippiRiverbargestoget to Louisiana ports for export. Soybeanexportswerepar-22055_20077-NCP_LoweringTemperatures_AJOT_8x10_k1.indd 1 11/12/22 10:56 AM'