By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

NEW ORLEANS, La. — As Midwest farmers watch waters recede and push to meet late-planting deadlines, officials connected with the busiest port in the United States are fighting to limit the economic impact of lost shipping time.
On three separate occasions between May 17-25, barge traffic was stalled along the Mississippi River at Natchez, Miss., because of high water. At the same time, 10 of the busiest freight terminals in the lower Mississippi River Delta also were forced to temporarily shut down operations because of the high water, said Roy Gonzalez, acting president of the Gulf States Maritime Assoc.
Some have since reopened, but others remain shut down and are diverting vessels to other terminals or ports, he said.

Not counting the significant loss from flooded land and homes from Cairo, Ill., south to Louisiana this spring, the expense of interrupted shipping of U.S. grain and other products is significant. Each day traffic is stalled, the economic loss could approach $300 million, said a spokesman for the Port of South Louisiana.
Thus far, the Coast Guard has shut down traffic along the river for one full day, and on two other occasions for less than a day.

For the Port of South Louisiana, located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the high water has not forced officials there to operate any differently, said spokesman Mike Smith. The port is the largest in the U.S., and through it flows nearly 60 percent of all grain exported by American producers.
Normal traffic down the river averages about 600 barges per day, with each barge capable of hauling about 17 tractor-trailer-sized loads of corn, beans and other grain, said Bob Anderson, a spokesman for the Mississippi Valley Division of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The river also is used to move other non-ag goods such as coal, wood and metals, and is considered a much more desirable mode of transportation for exporting than rail or truck. Port officials say the lower portion of the Mississippi carries some 550 million tons of goods each year.

Midwest farmers know the value of river transport.

“When it shuts down, there’s really no alternative,” said Jim Reed, a farmer in Piatt County, Ill., and president of the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc.

On a brighter note, Corps officials say a series of levee and spillway openings from Birds Point, Mo., just south of Cairo to the Morganza Spillway north of New Orleans has minimized the potential damage caused by a higher Mississippi River.

The crest of the Mississippi River at Natchez, for instance, was predicted to be about 63 feet on May 21. Instead, it reached just about 57 feet two days earlier.

The lower Mississippi was closed for a full day following the sinking of three barges full of corn. They were part of a 20-barge tow winding its way down the river at Baton Rouge; one barge struck a dock and sank, while two others hit a nearby bridge. High waters and faster currents were cited as the cause.
Traffic was allowed to continue the following day, but at much lower speeds, Smith said. Corps officials said traffic had to be limited partly because the wakes that large tows generate can weaken levees along the river route.