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dave, the statements you have made are correct in as far as they go, however, there is further to go. i will respectfully try to answer the points with "reply " statements. i hope this will be able to match the points to the counter points. as i said earlier many of the ideas which writers to this thread have regarding grain trade are correct, but not fully understood. this failure to appreciate the complexity of the grain trade can cause a writer to miss the mark even while making a statement which is undeniably true. cbt141 "If you are refering to identity protected grains, those generally more by container. " reply: very, very little grain moves by container. "As for rail/barge/ship, you do know that grain segregation is manifested on the barge lines too, with one barge holding soft white, one hard red, etc. " reply: segregation by class,ie, soft white, hard red (winter and spring) etc. is the first step in the process. there is a very specific grading system as to general quality and then the customer specific specifications relating to the chemistry of the flour expected from the chemistry of the wheat in question. these quality and identification requirements make breaking cargo from original warehousemans' load out a job demanding care and expertise. the problem comes in needing to keep specs on 3500bu hoppers identified when mixed in the 52,000bu barge. "The storage facilities along the river do the same thing as the storage facilities at the deep water ports. " reply: absolutely true. but once taken into the elevator and sorted, dried, blended matched to customer specs for test weight, protien, falling numbers etc, et al the wheat outloaded must stay with wheat of similar specification. this may well preclude breaking cargo from rail to barge or from truck to rail or barge on the way to final transport. "I'm glad you mentioned the weather retrictions of the MIdwest waterway systems. Although there is some grain that moves to New Orleans by rail/barge combos, during the winter months all must move by rail. By constrast, the Columbia Snake system is open year 'round." reply: grain moves to the gulf via barge all year round. there are c.i.f. quotes posted for barge grain delivered NOL every single day of the year. ice and water levels create delays and problems during the winter months, but only in the upper river is the problem bad enough to create a major problem with barge movement. most barge grain begins it's trip south as grain truck delivered to a river elevator facility and is loaded to barge and arrives in NOL without ever being rail handled. there are certainly rail movements to barge in the mississippi system, but the greatest fraction of grain movement finishing as barge will begin as barge grain as well. i have no opinion worth noting about "open access". i have , however, noticed comments about grain transportation being offered as support or opposition to the idea of open access. often these comments have not appreciated the subtleties of marketing grain. i would not characterize the statements made as incorrect, but they just don't really make the point that the writer is trying to illustrate.
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