Harvest is in full swing, and even though we could see a record for corn and soybeans, the timing could not be worse in terms of declining Mississippi River levels.
The conditions are so bad barges trying to move up and down the channel are now being stalled in areas, and it has led to cuts in barge drafts and tow sizes. Each reduction means heightened costs for shippers who are paying the same amount to ship less freight, those additional costs are typically passed on to farmers.
Lewis Williamson with HTS Commodities recently predicted this exact situation:
“Like we talked about two or three weeks ago when the hurricane came up through and put all that rain up in the Ohio Valley. We saw a big, big jump in the Mississippi River levels, and as I said then, I said, ‘Watch, you’re going to see river levels drop quickly.’ They already are. Memphis is a minus 6.6 feet today, [and will] be a minus 8.3 by October 20th. So, there are concerns building once again from a logistical standpoint for barge rates. So, we’ll see what happens with that.”
