Downbound barged grain movements and barge unloading operations in the New Orleans region appear to have gradually recovered from the affects of Hurricane Ida as the fall grain harvest continues to move forward, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today.
In early September, right after Ida, weekly downbound barged grain movements dropped to its lowest level since May 2013, the USDA said today in its weekly Grain Transportation Report (GTR). For a few weeks after the hurricane, barge unloading operations in the New Orleans region were mostly halted, but they have slowly recovered since late September, according to the GTR.
Barge movements typically increase around this time of the year, as river states progress with their harvests, the USDA said. For the week ending Oct. 16, downbound barged grain movements through the Mississippi River locking system reached 813,670 tons, 38% higher than last week and more than 2.8 times higher than the average weekly tonnage in September, according to the USDA. For the week ending Oct. 16, 772 barges were unloaded, 1.38 times more than the weekly average in September after operations resumed.
