Barge traffic stalls along drought-parched Mississippi River CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tim Cox was supposed to be steering an 800-foot string of barges through the twists and turns of the Mississippi River last week, moving tons of grain and coal toward the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, his towboat and about half a dozen others spent nearly 15 hours stationary in the drought-parched river, about 115 miles south of St. Louis. The boats had to stop while crews dredged downstream in a desperate attempt to keep the shipping channel open as the river approaches historically low levels. Cox, second in command on the towboat LJ Sullivan, sat in the captain's chair high above his barges, looking out the wheelhouse windows in disbelief at sandbars and stone dikes that are usually deep underwater. "I've never seen it this low myself," said Cox, who's worked on Mississippi River towboats for nearly 14 years. It's a lot more stressful right now. The drought that devastated crops throughout the Midwest over the summer has made the mighty Mississippi dangerously narrow and shallow, threatening to choke off a vital transportation artery that carries billions of dollars' worth of raw materials and commodities through the heart of the country. The Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for keeping the shipping channel open, says the drought's effect on the river is "equal to or worse than any of the past five decades." Relief might not arrive anytime soon. Both the corps and a National Weather Service hydrologist say the drought probably will stretch into next year and possibly beyond. The Mississippi's low water levels already have caused kinks in the supply chain as some farmers and manufacturers choose to ship their crops by truck or train, which can't carry nearly as much as barges. Barge companies have reduced the number of barges pushed by towboats and the weight carried by each barge so they don't run aground. The exact economic effect of the low water levels is difficult to calculate. But under normal conditions, about $7 billion worth of commodities is shipped on the river in December and January, according to the American Waterways Operators, a trade group representing the barge industry. "There is no doubt about it: I think this is the most serious situation that this industry has faced, going back to the severe drought of 1988 and 1989," said Ann McCulloch, a spokeswoman for the organization. The inefficiencies imposed on barge companies that transport such items as road salt and petroleum products probably will drive up prices for a variety of everyday products soon, industry officials said. Although consumers might not be hit with higher prices right away, the immediate effect of the low water levels is apparent to anyone standing on the river's banks. Tree-covered plots that once were islands are surrounded by acres of sand. Exposed shelves of rock and mud stretch hundreds of yards out from the usual shoreline, nearly reaching the buoys that mark the shipping channel. Objects that were underwater for years - the remnants of a sunken wooden barge, a flip-style cellphone - now sit on dry land. "I have never seen anything like it," said Col. Chris Hall, commander of the Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District. We're just trying to stay ahead of the potential problem areas we know of. Water levels are low along the entire river, but the corps says the worst stretch is from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi. The agency is scrambling to keep the shipping channel at least 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide - the minimum to enable barges to travel safely. That requires regular dredging between St. Louis and Cairo. Last week, the corps began closing the river near Thebes, Ill., every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for dredging. On Dec. 21, contractors began using explosives to blast away underwater rock pinnacles that threaten to tear the bottoms of barges trying to squeeze by.