Arkansas River traffic up almost 2% through October

Improving water levels on the Mississippi River have helped tonnage on the Arkansas River to swing from being down 4% year-to-date through August to being up almost 2% through October. Farm products have also helped improve river tonnage.

Tonnage shipped on the Arkansas River in the first 10 months of the year totaled 10.372 million, up 1.9% compared with 10.18 million tons in the same period of 2023, according to a report Thursday (Nov. 14) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

October tonnage on the river was 1.312 million, up an impressive 46% compared with October 2023. Much of the year-to-date gain has been driven by outbound shipments, and increases in shipments of sand, gravel, and rock.

Inbound shipments – those coming from off the river system – totaled 3.239 million tons during the first 10 months, down 15% compared with the same period in 2023. Outbound shipments totaled 3.873 million tons, up 13% compared with the same period in 2023. Internal shipments – those sent between port operations on the river – totaled 3.259 million tons, up 10%.

Following are the top five shipment categories by tonnage in the first 10 months of 2024, with the percentage change from the same period in 2023.
• Sand, gravel, rock: 3.847 million tons (up 15%)
• Chemical fertilizer: 2.073 million tons (down 10%)
• Minerals and building products: 905,218 tons (up 6%)
• Iron and Steel: 840,937 tons (down 22%)
• Wheat: 806,957 tons (up 10%)

Marty Shell, owner of Van Buren-based Five Rivers Distribution, which manages port operations in Van Buren and the Port of Fort Smith, said the third quarter of 2024 was good for businesses that use the river. But he said proposed tariffs could hurt river traffic in 2025.

“Local farmers had a good soybean harvest and inbound steel and fertilizer was good as well. We are still seeing high barge freight rates due to low water on the Mississippi River. With a new administration coming into office in January we are looking at possible tariffs to contend with. We hope that 2025 will be a good year and we look to be adding additional warehouse space for the growing river tonnage we are seeing,” Shell said.

TONNAGE HISTORY, RIVER INFO
Tonnage shipped on the river in 2023 totaled 12.208 million, up 10.9% compared with 11.011 million tons in 2022. Shipments of sand, gravel, rock and chemical fertilizers helped drive the 2023 gains.

Inbound shipments – those coming from off the river system – totaled 4.491 million tons during 2023, up 30% compared with 2022. Outbound shipments totaled 4.175 million tons, up 6% compared with 2022. Internal shipments – those sent between port operations on the river – totaled 3.542 million tons, down 1% compared with 2022.

The Arkansas River system – McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) – is 445 miles long and stretches from the confluence of the Mississippi River to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Okla. The controlled waterway has 18 locks and dams, with 13 in Arkansas and five in Oklahoma. The river also has five commercial ports: Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Muskogee, Okla., and the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma.