Empties moving north are equipment being positioned for grain nobody has priced yet. The count turns before the rate does, and a collapse in it during harvest is the clearest early signal that freight is about to get expensive.
30 days to 4 Oct 2026 · 74.00 barges to 108.00 barges
This page shows the last 30 days. Empty barges heading upriver has 163 readings in the warehouse, back to 12 Aug 2023. A plan opens the rest of it, with CSV export and the analyst.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service
Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Agricultural Transportation Open Data Platform, agtransport.usda.gov. Barge movement counts collected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Weekly count of empty barges moving north through Mississippi Locks 27. Empties heading upriver are equipment being repositioned for grain that has not been priced yet, which is why this leads the rate rather than following it.
Informational research only. Nothing here is personalised investment advice.