New Orleans, La. -
Louisiana ships plenty of products to points north, such as coal, grain and steel. The problem now is getting it there. The drought in the Midwest is causing low Mississippi River levels, and it's harder, and more costly, to navigate barges further north.
"We transport a lot of bulk material through the inland river system," said Jeff Kindl of American Commercial lines, a barge company in Harahan. "Just this morning there was a line between Greenville and Vicksburg and tow boats had to wait for the dredge to come to deepen the channel."
Kindl says, as the water goes down, more and more areas silt in. River vessels run a greater risk of hitting those lumpy areas, and sometimes the barges break apart or run aground.
"From what I understand it's a lot of shallow places making it difficult to get through," said tug captain Jim Sellers.
Tows have been adjusted dramatically. "The tow sizes are typically 35 and 40 barges -- we're down to 25 and 30 barges now, instead," Kindl said.
More barges are being used to help distribute weight on loads.
"6,000 tons, I might be able to get that on three barges; now I'm using four," Kindl said. He says it's driven up costs 25 percent.
Industry experts say they nervously remember the drought of 1988 that brought river barge traffic to a standstill and caused $1 billion in losses.
"We are praying for rain every day, doing a rain dance," Kindl said. "We are almost to a point of wishing for a tropical storm that would go up the river and rain everywhere they needed it."
