eNews • July 2019
Promoting a Cost-Effective, Reliable and Competitive Transportation System

Mixed emotions as river reopens to barges

The Army Corps of Engineers has partially opened the Mississippi River to barge traffic, but some farmers in Iowa are still worried about the financial impact of the slow recovery of shipping on the waterway.

Dozens of barges were brought to a standstill during this devastating flood season. Samantha Heilig, a spokeswoman with the Rock Island District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the locks that had been closed since mid-March re-opened in June.

Robb Ewoldt told the Quad-City Times that he has about $80,000 worth of soybeans in storage at his farm in Scott County, waiting to be shipped down the river. The barges are moving, but slowly, and this worries Ewoldt.

"We now have a limited time to transport this crop down the river for export," he said. "That's the main thing I'm concerned about. There's only a finite amount of barges that can get through the aging infrastructure on our lock and dams. Are we going to have enough time to move this crop out before we start harvesting our 2019 crop?"

The halt to barge traffic has delayed farmers' income and prevented some from planting crops because fertilizer arrives by barge. Farmers are also apprehensive about shipping costs because barges are in high demand.

"That increased cost gets passed down to the farmer," Ewoldt noted.

But farmers aren't the only ones losing business.

Shipping companies have lost out on sales or turned to costly alternatives, said Doug Weber, a manager at shipping company Alter River Terminal Rock Island.

"This has never happened before," Weber said. "People in this industry for 50 years have never heard of anything like this for this duration."

Weber said his company usually ships one or two barges per day, but only a dozen barges have moved since the river closed to traffic.

"Sales have just disappeared," he said.

Ewoldt said he'll be "waiting in line with everyone else," hoping his soybeans are shipped while he works to pay off last year's debt.

"It's been challenging," he said. "I've never worked a day in my life until this season because now it's not too much fun. Before this it was pretty good."

Source: Agri News


The Soy Transportation Coalition is comprised of thirteen state soybean boards, the American Soybean Association, and the United Soybean Board. The National Grain and Feed Association and the National Oilseed Processors Association serve as ex-officio members of the organization.

Soy Transportation Coalition
1255 SW Prairie Trail Pkwy., Ankeny, Iowa 50023
Phone: (515) 727-0665 Fax (515) 251-8657
Email msteenhoek@soytransportation.org
Web www.soytransportation.org

Funded by the Soybean Checkoff