Drought Shrivels the Mississippi River and Threatens to Disrupt US Food Exports
- Barge rates are surging amid dry conditions in the central US
- Cargoes of crude oil and petroleum products are also at risk
While Mississippi River levels are still well above last year’s lows, the drought underscores how extreme weather is putting the world’s most vital waterways at risk.
Photographer: Houston Cofield/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Drought across the central US is shrinking the Mississippi River, sending barge rates soaring and threatening to roil shipments of everything from corn to gasoline.
Dry conditions across the Ohio River basin, which feeds the Mississippi, have worsened already low water levels at the larger river, said David Welch, a hydrologist with the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center. The Mississippi, a critical conduit shuttling food, energy and steel supplies to global markets, usually sees lower levels at this time of year.