BURNS HARBOR | Severe flooding on the Mississippi River has hampered some barge traffic out of Indiana's International Port at Burns Harbor, holding up some grain movements to the South and ore movements to the north.
There currently are no restrictions on the Illinois River from the Burns Harbor port to St. Louis where the Illinois meets the Mississippi River, said Jody Peacock, spokesman for the Ports of Indiana Peacock said.
"But it's day to day throughout the river system," he said. "Flooding is having an impact on the river. They're restricting the amount of barges that one tugboat can push and there are requirements for northbound shipments, and night travel is under the captain's judgement. "It affecting shipping on the river systems and it's being monitored on a day-to-day basis to make sure its safe and available for our shipments."
Plus, the amount of the Port's shipping being affected by flooding also is tempered by the fact that most of its cargo is transported by ship through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, said Joseph Jones, president of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1969.
"It would affect barge traffic, but we haven't been getting much barge traffic this year," Jones said.
But John Starke, grain merchant for Cargill's port operation, said 200,000 bushels of corn meant for the company's Decatur, Ala. processing plant are sitting dockside because Mississippi barge traffic currently is stalled.
"Right now we're working with other grain shippers to work with the railroads to give us rates," he said Tuesday. "Corn processors are being impacted, and as a supplier, we are too,"
Cargill's port operation currently is buying corn that has been stored in silos or grain elevators since last season and shipping it to the company's processor, which uses hundreds of thousands of bushels of corn daily, Starke said.
"Right now, everything is sitting," he said. "Our employees are cutting grass, painting fences, doing maintenance." he said. "If the (Alabama) processor can't buy enough to keep the plant open. That affects its 200 employees and the local community because the plant can't operate."
Ken Stone, operations manager for Lakes and Rivers Transfer, said the company ships cotton seed and various types of ore on barges, both up and down the Mississippi. One of its barges carrying magnesite that was loaded from a ship in the Port of New Orleans is stuck on the river south of St. Louis, he said. The material is used in refractory brick used to line steel mill blast furnaces.
"It should have been here this week, now it's questionable when it will be here." Stone said.
The company is expecting another ship carrying the mineral to dock in New Orleans at the end of June, with its cargo scheduled to come up the Mississippi to Burns Harbor during mid-to-late July.
"It's a slow process," Stone said. "There's the possibility for customers who needs material, that importers can move materials by truck. That takes away from our revenue, but it understandable for customers. For the Port is reflects on its tonnages."
