#10 | The Cause
August has been a case of the haves and have nots:
The Upper Mississippi River basin has been particularly dry in recent weeks, contributing to falling water levels on the Mighty Mississippi.
#9 | The Effect
Continued dryness has left more than 85% of the Upper Mississippi watershed in moderate to extreme levels of drought.
As a result, the Mississippi River is approaching some of its lowest levels since last fall, snarling logistics and pushing transportation costs higher up and down the inland waterways system.
Unfortunately, the Mississippi’s problems will likely persist as forecasts continue to call for below normal precipitation in the coming weeks which spells trouble for shippers of harvest bushels.
#8 | The Effect - Part 2
Low water is now impacting the areas up and down the Mississippi, reducing barge drafts and restricting tow sizes both of which drive transportation costs higher.
St. Louis and areas north are seeing draft reductions of 15% or more while facilities to the south are faced with similar draft reductions in addition to tow size reductions which limit the volume of bushels that can be transported by one boat.
There are also delays in certain problem spots where the channel is narrow and boats must wait one to two days for their turn to pass.
So - what does that really mean?
Full drafts (no restrictions) in St. Louis are 12’6 (the number of feet it sticks down in the water) meaning one basic box barge can hold around 80,000 bushels of soybeans.
Today, drafts have been reduced to 9’6”, cutting carrying capacity of each barge by more than 21,000 bushels, driving up transportation costs per bushel and requiring more barges to transport the same quantities of grain.
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