EFFECT OF LOCK DELAY ON GRAIN MARKETING COSTS - AN EXAMINATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI AND ILLINOIS WATERWAYS

This paper evaluates the effect of lock delay on the efficiency of marketing the north central U.S.'s corn and soybean production via the upper Mississippi and Illinois waterways. The analysis is accomplished with a multicommodity least-cost network flow model. Lock delay was found to have an important effect on the cost of barging the region's surplus grain production. If the lock and dam system on the upper Mississippi and Illinois waterways is not continually upgraded, grain is redirected to less efficient modes, thus increasing the cost of marketing the region's grain surplus. These increased costs need to be weighed against the costs of upgrading lock capacity.