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Downbound Barge Grain Movements (Tons)
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-13T16:06:28.000ZThe Mississippi River (north of St. Louis, MO) and its tributaries (e.g., the Arkansas River, Illinois River, Ohio River, etc.) make use of a series of locks and dams to bring traffic up and down the waterways. Grain generally flows south from the relatively production-rich areas of the Midwest to export ports in Louisiana and feed markets in the southeast. This dataset provides weekly information on the amount (in tons), location, and commodity of barged grain transiting the following three major points: (1) the last lock on the Mississippi, Mississippi Locks 27 (called "Miss Locks 27" in the dataset), which captures downbound traffic from the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers; (2) the last lock on the Ohio River, Olmsted Locks and Dam (called "Ohio Olmstead" in the dataset), which captures any downbound traffic on the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers; and (3) the last lock on the Arkansas River, Arkansas River Lock and Dam 1 (called "Ark Lock 1" in the dataset). Ohio Olmsted locks replaced Ohio Locks 52 beginning in November 2018. Commodities include "corn," "soybeans," "wheat," and "other" (oats, barley, sorghum, and rye). Combined, these three locks give a sense of barge grain traffic (by commodity) on the Mississippi--since grain shipments heading south from the Upper Mississippi River, Illinois River, Ohio River, and Arkansas River are captured. Note, however, that this data does not include all grain barge movements on the Mississippi Rover System, as some grain originates on the Mississippi below the locking portion (south of St. Louis, MO). Grain traffic originating below Lock 27 on the Mississippi is about 10 to 30 percent of total downbound grain shipments, which varies year to year. A similar dataset, "Upbound and Downbound Loaded and Empty Barge Movements (Count)," contains information on the count of grain barges moving down the locking system (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/w6ip-grsn) versus this dataset that shows tonnages. Data is collected weekly from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lock Performance Monitoring System.
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Grain Transportation Cost Indicators
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-13T16:06:20.000ZThis data shows the weekly cost indices of transporting grain by each mode: truck, rail, barge, and ocean-going vessels. The base of each index (set to 100) is the average of monthly costs in the year 2000. For truck, the base rate is $1.49 per gallon. For unit train, the base rate is $1,815.15 per railcar, including the tariff and fuel surcharges (weekly changes reflect the month tariff rate plus fuel surcharge, and weekly secondary railcar market bids). For shuttle train, the base rate is $2,338.28 per railcar, including the tariff and fuel surcharges (weekly changes reflect the month tariff rate plus fuel surcharge, and weekly secondary railcar market bids). For barge, the base rate is 180 and is based on Illinois River barge rates (see Downbound Grain Barge Rates dataset for more information). For the Gulf-to-Japan ocean route, the base rate is $22.36/metric ton. For the Pacific Northwest-to-Japan ocean route, the base rate is $14.10/metric ton.
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Public Use Carload Waybill Sample
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-17T18:06:00.000ZThe Surface Transportation Board's Carload Waybill Sample is perhaps the most comprehensive dataset available on railroad movements and trends. More technically, it is a stratified sample of carload waybills for all U.S. rail traffic submitted by those rail carriers terminating 4,500 or more revenue carloads annually. See 49 C.F.R. §§ 1244.1 to 1244.5. Waybill data have broad applications and usage in national railroad policy and regulations, such as rate cases, costing systems, productivity studies, exemption decisions, and analyses supporting regulations. Waybill data are used by transportation practitioners, consultants, and law firms in preparing verified statements to be submitted in formal proceedings before the Board or other public agencies. Various federal agencies use the Waybill Sample as part of their informational and decision-making framework, and many states use it as a source of information for developing state transportation plans. STB creates the Public Use Waybill file from the confidential Waybill Sample file. See the attached documents for more information. The "Reference Guide" document contains additional details on the variables and Standard Transportation Commodity Codes (STCC). In the "Creation of the Public Use Waybill Sample" document, STB provides more detail on the public use sample and how it is created. There is also a map of Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Areas and a document describing the Waybill sampling instructions.
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Ohio River Monthly Grain Barge Movements by Commodity
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-06T17:25:24.000ZThis chart shows Ohio River monthly grain barge movement by locks. Lock 42 data is available from February 2021. Use filters to select commodity, lock, direction of traffic, date range, or to specify the year and month.
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Ohio River Monthly Fertilizer Movements by Locks
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-06T17:25:24.000ZThis chart shows Ohio River monthly fertilizer movements by locks. Lock 42 data is available from February 2021. Use filters to change date range, direction of traffic, lock, or to specify the year and month.
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Ohio River Monthly Grain Barge Movements by Locks
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-06T17:25:24.000ZThis chart shows Ohio River monthly grain barge movement by commodity. Lock 42 data is available from February 2021. Use filters to select commodity, lock, direction of traffic, date range, or to specify the year and month.
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Ohio River Monthly Empty Barges
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-06T17:25:21.000ZThis chart shows Ohio River monthly empty barge movements. Lock 42 data is available from February 2021. Use filters to change date range, direction of traffic, lock, or to specify the year and month.
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Idle Container Vessel Fleet
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2022-04-13T19:20:58.000ZThis dataset provides the monthly percentage of the global container vessel fleet that is idle. Ocean carriers remove and reinstate vessels from service as demand rises and falls throughout the year.
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Columbia River Monthly Empty Barges
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-06T17:25:21.000ZThis chart shows Ohio River monthly empty barge movements. Data is available from February 2021. Use filters to change date range, direction of traffic, lock, or to specify the year and month.
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Grain Basis
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2024-06-13T16:06:33.000ZBasis reflects both local and global supply and demand forces. It is calculated as the difference between the local cash price and the futures price. It affects when and where many grain producers and shippers buy and sell grain. Many factors affect basis—such as local supplies, storage and transportation availability, and global demand—and they interact in complex ways. How changes in basis manifest in transportation is likewise complex and not always direct. For instance, an increase in current demand will drive cash prices up relative to future prices, and increase basis. At the same time, grain will enter the transportation system to fulfill that demand. However, grain supplies also affect basis, but will have the opposite effect on transportation. During harvest, the increase in the supply of grain pushes down cash prices relative to futures prices, and basis weakens, but the demand for transportation increases to move the supplies. For more information on how basis is linked to transportation, see the story, "Grain Prices, Basis, and Transportation" (https://agtransport.usda.gov/stories/s/sjmk-tkh6), and links below for research on the topic. This data has corn, soybean, and wheat basis for a variety of locations. These include origins—such as Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and many others—and destinations, such as the Pacific Northwest, Louisiana Gulf, Texas Gulf, and Atlantic Coast. This is one of three companion datasets. The other two are grain prices (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/g92w-8cn7) and grain price spreads (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/an4w-mnp7). These datasets are separate, because the coverage lengths differ and missing values are removed (e.g., there needs to be a cash price and a futures price to have a basis price). The cash price comes from the grain prices dataset and the futures price comes from the appropriate futures market, which is Chicago Board of Trade (CME Group) for corn, soybeans, and soft red winter wheat; Kansas City Board of Trade (CME Group) for hard red winter wheat; and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange for hard red spring wheat.