Barge Fees Limit U.S. Exports as Crops Compete for Space
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As U.S. farmers begin the biggest corn and soybean harvests ever, the bins at Elburn Cooperative Co. in Illinois remain almost empty. It simply costs too much to send Midwest crops by barge to New Orleans export terminals.
Shipping fees along the Mississippi River, the world’s busiest inland waterway, have more than doubled to a record in the past year as an avalanche of new crops compete with oil, coal and chemicals for limited space, government data show. The cost surge is more than normal for harvest season and may strand more grain during the busiest time of year for handlers in the U.S., the biggest global exporter.