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Ports Around New Orleans Reopen, Ship Out Midwest Crops to Market

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Sep. 14--To the great relief of farmers, ports around New Orleans began reopening Tuesday to the giant ocean-going ships that deliver Minnesota corn and soybeans around the world.

Although it's far from normal, the reopening of the Mississippi River marked a milestone in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina -- and not a moment too soon, with the fall harvest underway, shipping costs soaring and grain storage scarce.

"We've got problems, but they look solvable," said Jerry Fruin, a transportation specialist at the University of Minnesota. "The (gulf) infrastructure was not destroyed: the channel, the elevators, the barge fleet for the most part is intact, and it's a matter of getting it working."

Eight of the 10 grain-exporting elevators in the New Orleans area have power and are resuming operations to some degree, said Randy Gordon with the National Grain and Feed Association. That's important because 60 percent of America's grain exports pass through those facilities.

"You don't go from zero to 100 percent operations overnight, and it is a gradual process," Gordon said. But, he said, continuing progress is being made, and significant progress."

Agricultural cooperative CHS, based in Inver Grove Heights, owns the southernmost terminal elevator on the Mississippi River, 30 miles south of New Orleans.

"We still don't have power, so they're working with generators and they're pumping out some of the water, but still, there's no structural damage," said spokeswoman Lisa Graham-Peterson.

"Farmers want to be assured that everything is up and running by harvest, and we're confident that that's going to happen, by the time harvest is really going," she added.

For Minnesota farmers, the consequences of a river shutdown have already been painfully apparent.

The freight rates have gone up immensely," said Bob Worth, a soybean grower from Lincoln County.

Typically, farmers in his area pay 30 to 35 cents a bushel to ship and store their soybeans, Worth explained. But after the hurricane, the river shutdown and soaring energy costs, "we are talking about 55 to 60 cents" for shipping each bushel, he said. That added cost comes out of the farmer's pocket.

It's still unclear when the Gulf ports can resume normal operations, but farmers and shippers hope it's soon. Barge traffic on the Mississippi closes for winter in late November--a special concern to upriver shippers, like Agriliance, a joint venture between Land O'Lakes and CHS that makes fertilizer and related products.

"We're not too far from river close," notes Bruce Vernon, director of crop nutrients at Agriliance. "Product needs to be northbound out of New Orleans by early October, in order for barges to get up here, unload, and get back south. So we've only got about three more weeks, or four weeks, to make the round trip before navigation is impossible."

Yet each day now seems to bring new signs of recovery, said Lee Nelson of St. Paul's Upper River Services.

"Yesterday the word came through that they had opened the river to two-way traffic 24 hours a day, down to (the river's mouth at) South Pass, which is very good news," Nelson said.

"There are still people issues, and some power issues, and the industry is bruised and battered like everybody," Nelson added. "But it's getting better every hour, and every day."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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