Updates status of river and surrounding ports.
The US Coast Guard reopened the Mississippi river to nearly all vessel traffic at 4pm ET today, following several days of closures because of Hurricane Ida.
Ships on the river will still face some restrictions just upriver from New Orleans, between mile-markers 105 and 108, where local utility Entergy is retrieving downed transmission lines from the river. All vessels are banned from entering the area without express permission until 30 September or until salvage operations are complete.
The port of Bienville, Mississippi, and the Louisiana ports of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Plaquemines, South Louisiana, St Bernard and the Venice port complex were reopened to all vessel traffic. Those ports had been closed since 28 August, the day prior to the storm's landfall in Louisiana.
The port of Mobile, Alabama, was reopened fully after its draft restriction was lifted, and Gulfport, Mississippi, reopened with a draft restriction of 25ft after reopening to inner-harbor movements this morning.
The ports of Pensacola, Florida, and Pascagoula, Mississippi, maintained their respective draft restrictions of 30ft and 42ft.
Shipping delays in New Orleans are expected to persist through early September, according to barge carriers.
Clean tanker booking activity has been absent from the US Gulf coast all week, as charterers have remained out of the market while the region recovers from the storm.
Disruptions to US Gulf coast refiners have boosted demand for gasoline imports into the US Atlantic coast from Europe, helping lift rates on the route. Yesterday, the UKC-US Atlantic coast medium range (MR) clean tanker rate jumped by 17pc to $17.40/metric tonne, the highest in nearly a month.
