Coast Guard Reopens Key Miss. River Grain Route

A 15-mile section of the Mississippi River at Natchez, Miss., has reopened to limited barge traffic, restoring traffic on the primary conduit for U.S. grain exports.

The Coast Guard said it would allow only one barge tow at a time to transit the section of river, in order to minimize stress on levees during record flooding. The limited-traffic section extends between points 350 and 365 miles upstream from the river delta.

The river segment was closed to river traffic Tuesday after reports that vessel wakes were causing erosion near levees. Officials said the erosion now is believed to have been caused by an underwater pipeline.

The Coast Guard said the section around Natchez and Vidalia, La., is likely to close again if the river gauge at Natchez reaches 62.5 feet, the Coast Guard said. The river is expected to crest at 63 feet in Natchez on Saturday.

Towing companies report growing delays because of navigation restrictions along the river, which handles more than half of U.S. bulk grain exports in addition to large volumes of coal, steel and other commodities.

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway branch extending north from Morgan City, La., to Port Allen, across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge, has been closed to barge traffic. The Morgan City-Port Allen route is important for oil and petrochemical shipments.

High water has caused several liquid and dry bulk terminals along the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge to suspend operations but vessel transits and cargo handling at the Port of New Orleans has continued uninterrupted. Hapag-Lloyd said its skipping of a ship call at New Orleans this week was not due to river conditions.

The Corps of Engineers’ opening last weekend of the Morganza floodway into the Atchafalaya River will cause flooding around Morgan City, a center of offshore oil construction, that could interfere with barge traffic on the intracoastal waterway hugging the Gulf of Mexico.

Kirby Corp., which specializes in liquid bulk shipments, said last week that floods on the Mississippi System and intracoastal waterway could hurt its profit this quarter. It said the anticipated closure of the GIWW at Morgan City could last several weeks until the Atchafalaya basin’s floodwaters drain.