Farm Products News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, began dredging the Mississippi River navigation channel near Brownsville, Minn., in Pool 8 this week to ensure the channel remains open for commercial navigation.Dredging is expected to continue in this area through Labor Day.The Above Brownsville Placement Site, known locally as Crater Island, will be closed during this time when needed for dredging operations.The St. Paul District maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa on the Upper Mississippi River.

The list of projects on the United States’ inland waterways infrastructure to-do list is seemingly never-ending as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) continuously works to maintain, repair and, when possible, upgrade aging locks and dams throughout America’s vast network of navigable rivers.But there’s been progress toward modernizing the system, especially in recent years amid steadily rising annual appropriations that fund the Corps’ Civil Works mission, and Construction…

Argentina's grains inspectors began a 24-hour strike on Monday demanding bonus payments, but port activity and shipments of farm products were not affected in the South American country, the top global exporter of processed soybeans.Juan Carlos Peralta, press secretary of the URGARA union, said there was strong compliance with the strike action and that on Monday afternoon the union would hold another assembly to decide whether to extend the strike."We will continue with the measure if we do not have an answer…

The Baltic exchange's main sea freight index rose on Monday, buoyed by an uptick in capesize vessel rates.The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, rose 12 points, or 0.4%, to 2,881.The capesize index rose 28 points, or 0.7%, to 3,958.Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of coal and steel-making ingredient iron ore, increased by $232 to $32,825.Asia's iron ore futures tumbled…

Seven grains ships stranded at Argentina's export hub of Rosario will be towed free and sent out to sea after they were loaded with more produce than could be carried on the port's increasingly shallow waters, local authorities said on Friday.Rosario traffic has been snarled in the aftermath of a 48-hour strike by tugboat captains and other workers managing the flow of agricultural cargo ships.Seven ships, six of them large Panamax vessels, loaded with soymeal, corn and other farm products were moored at Rosario during the work stoppage.

Argentina's main grains port of Rosario was snarled on Friday in the aftermath of a 48-hour strike by tugboat captains and other workers managing the flow of agricultural cargo ships, who are demanding access to COVID-19 vaccines, port authorities said.Seven ships—six of them large Panamax vessels—that had been loaded with soy and other farm products were stranded at their docks, unable to embark due to the falling water level of the Parana River at Rosario, according to a letter…

Argentina's Parana River, the grains superhighway that takes soy and corn from the Pampas farm belt to the world, has gotten so shallow that it has started "trimming" international shipments just as the country's export season gets underway.The level of the Parana at the export hub of Rosario, home to some of the biggest soy crushing plants in the world, was a scant 0.90 meters on Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard.Between 1996 and 2020 the median depth of the river at Rosario in April was a much deeper 3.58 meters.

Argentina's influential chamber of soyoil manufacturers and exporters on Sunday spiced up an offer to striking workers, seeking to end a more than two-week standoff that has bogged down exports from one of the world's main breadbaskets.The CIARA-CEC chamber said it would top up salaries by 35% in 2020, a central demand of the striking workers, many of whom stayed on the job through the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The group also offered a 70,000 peso (about $840) bonus…

Norwalk, Ct.-based First Harvest Navigation, a marine transportation company that connects family farms to urban and suburban neighborhoods, has selected Boston-based Sea Machines’ technology to launch the first autonomous hybrid cargo vessel in the U.S. Powered by Sea Machines’ SM300 autonomous command and remote-helm control system, the U.S.- built, electric-powered Captain Ben Moore will also be the first hybrid cargo vessel to feature remote crew-assist technology and to generate zero emissions.Installation of Sea Machines’ SM300 aboard the Captain Ben Moore…

Choosing the year’s ‘top stories’ is always a difficult task. Many compelling story threads played out, each dramatically impacting the North American waterfront, and in particular, the workboat sector – each in their own unique way.The Infrastructure Battle ContinuesThe EXECUTIVE SUMMARY H.R. 2396, the “Full Utilization of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act”, will ensure that the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is used for its intended purpose – maintaining Federally-authorized harbors. The legislation would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to dredge all Federal harbors to their constructed widths and depths. Unfortunately, Washington continues in chaos with another continuing resolution on the budget; the next one expires on December 20th.

China and the United States are in touch over the signing of their Phase 1 trade deal, China's commerce ministry said, which will see lower U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and higher Chinese purchases of U.S. farm, energy and manufactured goods.The Phase 1 deal was announced last week after more than two years of on-and-off trade talks, although neither side has released many specific details of the agreement.Both the Chinese and U.S. trade teams are in close communication, Gao Feng…

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday that the U.S. team was "open-minded" about the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks next week, which will include deputy-level meetings on Monday and Tuesday, with minister-level meetings Thursday and Friday.Kudlow declined to make any predictions about the talks but said that there had been a "softening of the psychology on both sides" in the past month, with the United States delaying some tariff increases and China making some modest purchases of American farm products.Reporting by David Lawder

Last month Maritime Reporter & Engineering News was invited to join Admiral Karl Schultz, the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, on a trek to New Orleans for an underway tour on board a mid-stream transfer operation in the Mississippi River. As the U.S. inland waterway system has endured historic water levels for more than six months, the destination provided a perfect backdrop to discuss several key messages coming from USCG leadership: the maritime industry’s critical role in facilitating U.S.

Hybrid is not only here, it is growing, and with that growth it will soon reach far beyond coastal applications.For those who were around for the arrival of Y2K, you will remember the anticipation, preparation and perspiration as the maritime world waited for the failure of communications, navigation, security and machinery associated with the digital change of the clock. The forecasts, now historical urban legend, left the world without a digital catastrophe.We wait now for 2020 and the advent of the IMO maritime emissions regulations.

Brazil's policy of setting minimum freight rates is reducing the volume of cargo at Brazilian ports as farmers and agricultural exporters have difficulty arranging transportation at higher cost, according to the head of a Brazilian ports association.The country instituted minimum rates for freight above the previous market rate as part of a deal to end a truckers' strike over high diesel prices in May. The strike paralyzed the country's roadways, preventing agriculture exports…

Barge transportation comprises an extensive network, ideal for carrying seaborne cargo to inland destinations and exports alike. Responsible, in part, for the worldwide trade of bulk transport, the industry is of great significance to the agricultural sector. In North America, The Army Corps of Engineers maintains and operates over 12,000 miles of canals, rivers, and inland waterways. The Illinois Waterway and Mississippi River are the major waterways in the region that are responsible for moving agricultural and farm products through barges.

Protracted labor strife and shipping disruptions at U.S. West Coast ports have hit farmers especially hard, posing a major barrier to perishable goods headed to overseas markets and resulting in losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a week. Foreign Pacific Rim customers facing chronic delays in shipments of U.S. food and farm products are turning to other countries for produce ranging from citrus and apples to beef and pork, the Washington-based Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) has reported. Many frustrated U.S. suppliers are deciding to forgo exports and scrambling instead to find domestic buyers for their produce, driving down prices, said Wendy Fink-Weber, a spokeswoman for the Western Growers trade organization.

Freight volumes in the United States have fallen year on year for the first time since 2012 and before that the recession of 2009, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The total volume of freight moved by road, rail, pipeline, inland waterways and as air cargo in November 2015 was 1.1 percent lower than in the corresponding month a year earlier. Freight demand growth has been slowing since the start of last year but the slowdown intensified in the second half and November marked the first time that year-on-year growth turned negative.

An upcoming river lock repair project in south Chicago has attracted the attention of exchange operator CME Group because the lock's closure could disrupt deliveries against its Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures contracts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close the 64-year-old T.J. O'Brien lock and dam on the Cal-Sag Channel for two phases of repairs beginning on Nov. 3 and again on Jan. 19. It is the northernmost of eight locks on the Illinois Waterway system, near the entrance to Lake Michigan. Each closure will halt traffic there for 47 days and could make it more difficult or costly for buyers of futures contracts to take delivery of grain housed in Chicago since the lock lies within the contracts' delivery zone 1.

A bumper crop of wheat has led to a booming export business at the Port of Brunswick, with the first export vessel of the season departing today. “This is going to be a banner year, in the range of 90,000- to 100,000-tons of wheat moved across our docks at Colonel’s Island Terminal,” said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmland dedicated to wheat production in Georgia grew from 230,000 acres in 2012 to 350,000 acres in 2013.

LNG? Methanol as fuel? Hybrid systems? Tier 4? Reducing noise? Cutting emissions without crushing fuel economy? Marine News readers have questions and Bob Kunkel has answers. Kunkel, President of Alternative Marine Technologies, previously served as the Federal Chairman of the Short Sea Shipping Cooperative Program under the Maritime Administration and Department of Transportation from 2003 until 2008. A past Vice President of the Connecticut Maritime Association, he is a contributing writer for Maritime Professional and Marine News. A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Kunkel sailed as a licensed engineer and eventually continued his career in ship construction at NASSCO, San Diego, Hyundai Heavy Industries, S. Korea, Chengxi Shipyard and Dalian New Shipyard in China.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will receive the Eighth Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, at 6 p.m. at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Senator Harkin will be honored for his steadfast commitment to the improvement of the Nation’s ports and commercial inland waterways system over his many years in Congress. Harkin worked to broaden the support for locks and dam improvements crafting a measure with Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) that made improvements to environmental programs on the Upper Mississippi River. That resulted in a broadening of the coalition in support of moving forward with both improved locks and environmental mitigation. The measure was passed as a part of the 2007 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).

Grain barge shipping came to a near standstill in parts of the U.S. Midwest on Thursday as recent heavy rain and melting snow swelled rivers, halted barge loading and sidelined the towboats that haul farm belt crops to Gulf Coast export terminals. The flooded waterways sent cash premiums for corn barges delivered to Gulf Coast terminals soaring. Rates hit peaks on Thursday that have not been seen in 18 months, as exporters scrambled to secure enough grain to top off vessels bound for overseas markets, traders said. Barge lines suspended operations on northern sections of the Illinois River, with water levels already near record crests, or forecast to reach those levels by the weekend, according to National Weather Service river forecasts.