For the week ending Aug. 22, total inspections of grain (corn, wheat, and soybeans) for export from all major U.S. export regions reached 2.16 million metric tons (mmt), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This amount is 7% less than the previous week, down 22% from last year, and 15% below the three-year average, the USDA said in its weekly Grain Transportation Report released today. The drop in total inspections was caused mainly by lower wheat and soybean inspections. Corn inspections, however, rebounded from the previous week, increasing 25%.

Week-to-week inspections of corn for export increased to Latin America and Asia, with Latin America accounting for 68% of all corn inspected. Pacific Northwest (PNW) grain inspections increased 11% from the previous week, but Mississippi Gulf grain inspections decreased 17%.

For the week ending Aug. 24, barge grain movements totaled 890,199 tons, the GTR said. This is a 63% increase from the previous week and a 1% increase over the same period last year. For the week ending Aug. 24, 564 grain barges moved down river. This is 216 more barges than the previous week. There were 599 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 12% less than the previous week.

David Krapf retired in 2024 after serving as editor of WorkBoat, the nation’s leading trade magazine for the inland and coastal waterways industry, since 1999. During his tenure, Krapf oversaw the editorial direction of the publication, shaping its reputation as an industry leader. Krapf's career in publishing began in 1987 as a reporter and editor for daily and weekly newspapers in the Houston area. He also served as the editor of a transportation industry daily in New Orleans before joining WorkBoat as a contributing editor in 1992. With a career spanning decades, Krapf has been covering the transportation industry since 1989. He holds a degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Oswego and studied journalism at the University of Houston.