According to today's USDA Grain Transportation Report, from June 5-8, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts of (USACE) Little Rock, AR, and Tulsa, OK, held four workshops to provide information, answer questions, and collect input about a project to deepen the channel of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigational System (MKARNS).
By increasing the channel’s minimum navigable depth to 12-feet throughout MKARNS, USACE intends to allow inland commercial vessels to sail at the same drafts on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) that they have on the Lower Mississippi River.
The expanded draft will allow more cargo to be loaded on to barges, thereby lowering transportation costs.
From 2016 to 2020, MKARNS handled between 1.8 million and 3.0 million tons of grain—95% of which was corn and soybeans.