USCG updates ongoing lower Mississippi restrictions

The US Coast Guard (USCG) will further limit northbound movement for barges transiting the lower Mississippi River despite slightly higher water levels following Hurricane Francine's landfall late last week.

The USCG announced on 16 September that all northbound traffic traveling from Tunica, Mississippi, to Tiptonville, Tennessee, can only have five barges wide and only four of those can be loaded. Barges also cannot be loaded deeper than 9.5ft.

Any southbound traffic from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Tunica cannot move more than seven barges wide or be drafted deeper than 10.5ft. Southbound traffic from Tiptonville to Tunica can only be six barges wide or less and cannot have a draft greater than 10ft.

The USCG has updated lower Mississippi river draft restrictions about four times since the end of August, but this is the third year in a row of notable low water for the fall on the lower Mississippi river which has triggered draft restrictions to arrive more quickly than previous years.

Hurricane Francine brought significant rainfall to the lower Mississippi at the end of last week. But this has not eased the minds of mariners, who anticipate the water may leave as quickly as it arrived.

By Meghan Yoyotte