“Serious concerns” over critically low water levels in the Mississippi River system led port authorities to limit vessel drafts near a key export hub, potentially adding a further headache for shippers already contending with delays and skyrocketing costs.
The depth of ships’ drafts, or the distance between the waterline and the deepest point of the boat, are now limited to 41 feet upriver of the port of Baton Rouge, the nation’s eighth-largest by tonnage, the U.S. Coast Guard said late Friday. That’s down from 45 feet, a level at which vessels are encountering problems as spreading drought in the U.S. midwest dries up the waterway, a critical freight artery.
The move is an attempt to head off possible safety hazards as shippers contend with a backlog of barges and ocean vessels tasked with picking up and delivering core commodities such as grains, petroleum, coal, metals and fertilizer. The Mississippi typically moves more than 500 million tons of freight a year valued at more than $100 billion, according to government data.
