Mississippi River dredging seeks to increase US soy exports

Checkoff-funded research, planning, analysis, and design, led by the United Soybean Board (USB), has led to the launch of a dredging project to provide upgrades to the lower Mississippi River, which has been regarded as a major channel for soybean exports.

The dredging project, which will be funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, will entail the deepening of a 411-kilometre stretch of the lower Mississippi River to allow the transport of greater quantities of soybeans, in turn ensuring more cost-effective shipments to the larger US ports.

In a recent press release, the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC), one of the partners in the research, said that the same 411-kilometre section accounts for around 60 per cent of all US soy exports.

USB claims the research showed the dredging work would save up to US$0.13 per bushel (0.03 cubic metres) of freight while increasing the load by 500,000 bushels (17,619 cubic metres) per ocean vessel and thus bringing an additional US$461 million in revenue to US soybean farmers.

See all the other news, reviews and features of this month’s Marine Projects Week right here.