Midwest Flooding Impacts Transportation

Recent months have brought about major thunderstorms and flooding across the United States Midwest. Farmers have lost fields of crops and rivers have swelled to well beyond normal levels. This flooding has brought about a transportation halt due to the impassibility of many of the roads and waterways. The Mississippi River and its tributaries have experienced exceptional flooding, which has resulted in an interruption of barge and rail traffic leaving the Port of New Orleans to travel upstream.

While agriculture transport is certainly taking the greatest hit, shipments traveling by road or rail to inland destinations are also being impacted. With some road and rail infrastructure impassable, some containers are forced to wait at port or terminate before their final destination, resulting in potential demurrage charges and additional freight costs.  Albatrans is monitoring all affected shipments in their pipeline and will be reaching out to all importers directly to report on the situation.

We will work with our carrier contacts to mitigate as many delays and cost increases as possible. If you have any questions about specific shipments, please feel free to contact us.  As always, we will keep you posted on this issue, and please reach out to us if you have any questions. For additional information, please see the attached article from Freight Waves.