Not as much barge traffic has been reported on the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma and flowing through Arkansas.
It’s what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports, indicating the August traffic was down 18% compared to a year ago. The Corps indicated inbound, outbound and internal tonnage totaled 821,235 tons which was 18% less than the 1,000,648 tons of goods that moved on the river a year ago.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the overall tonnage on the river ports is also down about 19% from the nearly 8 million tons in 2024. It also indicated there was a 23% decline in the amount of chemical fertilizer shipped down the navigation system. There was a reported 30% drop in the shipments of sand, gravel and rock.
The paper also reported the amount of minerals and building materials fell by 21% while the total of food/farm products was down 19%.
The report indicated leaders at the Ports felt the decline in shipments was due to seasonal slowdowns and to new tariffs implemented by the administration. One area of reduced shipments was construction materials and it was attributed to a slowdown in building activity.