# Mississippi River Drought Affects Navigation - America's Engineers

> The St. Louis District is dredging the Mississippi to keep the 9-foot navigation channel open amid low water, with river levels about 8 feet below the long-term average. Dredges from other districts have been mobilized for channel maintenance. Declining levels are affecting barge shipping just as Midwest harvest begins.

- Date: 2023-12-20 · published 2023-12-20T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: logistics · region US · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/16582-mississippi-river-drought-affects-navigation-america-s-engineers
- Commodities: [Barge Freight (St. Louis)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/BARGE.md), [Corn](https://feedsoft.ai/c/CORN.md)

## Why it matters

Dredging and reduced draft raise barge freight costs and limit grain loadings on the Mississippi, which pressures farmgate prices and export logistics.

## Read by commodity

- CORN: bearish ▼
- BARGE: bullish ▲

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CORN | 2024-06-28 | [Army Corps of Engineers Expects Challenges with Mississippi River Navigation - ProAg](https://feedsoft.ai/events/29952-army-corps-of-engineers-expects-challenges-with-mississippi-river-navigation.md) | -0.3% | -0.9% |
| CORN | 2023-11-08 | [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discusses record low Mississippi River levels](https://feedsoft.ai/events/16585-u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-discusses-record-low-mississippi-river-levels.md) | +0.4% | -0.5% |
| CORN | 2018-03-02 | [High water disrupts navigation across much of Mississippi](https://feedsoft.ai/events/65885-high-water-disrupts-navigation-across-much-of-mississippi.md) | +1.2% | +3.0% |
| CORN | 2022-09-28 | [Drought Pushes Mississippi River Grain Shipping Rate to a Record - Bloomberg](https://feedsoft.ai/events/16680-drought-pushes-mississippi-river-grain-shipping-rate-to-a-record-bloomberg.md) | +1.9% | +4.4% |
| CORN | 2024-10-17 | [Another Midwest Drought Is Causing Transit Headaches on the Mississippi River](https://feedsoft.ai/events/28038-another-midwest-drought-is-causing-transit-headaches-on-the-mississippi-river.md) | +2.1% | +2.9% |

## Sources

- americas-engineers.com: https://americas-engineers.com/mississippi-river-drought-affects-navigation/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.