Port of the Week! - St. Louis, MO

Two simple features land St. Louis as an unusually gifted and dynamic port.

Located on one of the world’s most influential rivers. Check.

Located inside America’s heartland. Check.

Inland ports often get a drab wrap. If the bustling seaports of Los Angeles and New York are likened to the Major Leagues, their hinterland associates are pegged as the farm leagues that can only dream of one day making it to the big show.

While few in the industry undervalue the important role inland hubs play in facilitating and disbursing freight from large seaports to the proper delivery channels, many do sleep on the fantastic capabilities one dry port in particular has—St. Louis.

Forget about the port’s awesome connectivity to interstates and rail networks—that’s a given. Instead, pay notice to St. Louis’ 19 miles of riverbank along the Mississippi River.

This strategic spot next to this marine highway connects the world to the American Midwest and the region’s fertile expanses of wheat, corn, and soybeans.

Dubbed the “Ag Coast of America”, St. Louis possesses 15 barge-transfer facilities with the wherewithal capacity handle 150 barges a day. The port is right near the confluences of two other major rivers, the Illinois and the Missouri.

In total, the port system handles over 36 million tons of freight each year, with a great share of this belonging to agricultural commodities.

New year, same problem: Harvest season barges under threat

Harvest season is underway and, just like last year, the Mississippi River is negotiating low water levels.

As depicted last year, when water levels dip, barge shipping takes a hit. Less cargo can be loaded onto each transit, raising transportation costs and straining capacity for the river’s mode. Levels have fallen since June on the river system and are showing no signs of restoring in the coming weeks.

Harvest season is easily the Super Bowl for farmers and agricultural exporters. They bank on this annual timeframe to push out their yields in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Barge is the preferred mode as it is cheaper than rail and a single full load can haul as much volume as 16 railcars or even 70 semitrucks.

Shippers faced hard decisions last year in sight of historically high barge rates with many opting to use a more expensive and (at the time, especially) strained option in rail service.

Last year’s drought led to about 40 days of critically low water in parts of the Mississippi which led to grounding barges, congestion, and blocking river sports. An estimated $20 billion were reported in losses.