Coast Guard aims to reopen Mississippi river today

The US Coast Guard is finalizing plans to reopen the Mississippi river to vessel traffic today, according to shipping agents, after the river and surrounding ports closed ahead of Hurricane Ida.

Ships on the river will still face restrictions. The Coast Guard yesterday established a safety zone just upriver from New Orleans, between mile-markers 105 and 108, while it works with local utility Entergy to recover downed transmission lines. 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, remain closed to all vessel traffic. Those ports and the river have been closed since 28 August, the day prior to the storm's landfall in Louisiana.

The ports of Mobile, Alabama; Pensacola, Florida; and Pascagoula, Mississippi, have reopened with draft restrictions of 40ft, 30ft and 42ft, respectively. Gulfport, Mississippi, has reopened to inner-harbor movements.

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.

By Michael Connolly