Inland Water Transportation NAICS 483211, 483212

Sep 29, 2025 - Inland Waterways Pick Up the Slack in Trade War

• So far in 2025, US grain exports to China have dropped 57%, a sharp hit that highlights how global trade shifts ripple through domestic supply chains. The inland waterways system, especially the Mississippi River, plays a critical role in moving these exports and other key goods efficiently. In 2023, about 449 million short tons of cargo traveled US rivers and canals, including 264 million short tons of domestic shipments and 194.2 million short tons tied to imports and exports, per the US Army Corps of Engineers. With fewer exports going to China, the waterways are now redirecting more cargo to alternative markets, showing their flexibility but also their importance in keeping goods flowing. From coal and chemicals to agricultural products, inland waterways quietly underpin both domestic industries and international commerce even as US trade patterns constantly shift.
• Revenue for inland water transportation companies climbed 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the US Census Bureau, reaching $2.4 billion in an industry that is steadily on the upswing. High demand for domestic energy and agricultural exports increased shipping volumes toward the end of last year, although US tariff policy could upend that progress during the second half of 2025. Revenue also increased in Q4 due to higher barge freight rates thanks to inflation and higher fuel and labor costs. Drought conditions across US waterways improved during the year, raising water levels and increasing volume and regularity in inland shipping. Inland water freight companies also benefit from a driver shortage in the trucking industry, which has some companies looking for alternatives to ship commodities, including freight barges.

• Containership arrivals at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together handle one-third of US container imports, fell 17% in early May 2025 amid the off-again, on-again Trump tariff policy. Port officials said the ships that did arrive were carrying less cargo than normal, which ripples across the supply chain in less hours for dockworkers and warehouse employees, and less cargo for truckers to haul. Nearby restaurants and businesses also see depressed sales when the port is not busy. (Port of LA officials say every four containers entering the port supports one job nationwide.) According to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the lull is causing full-time dockworkers to cut their working days to only three or four a week, while part timers are essentially idle. Port officials largely blame US-China trade tensions that make cargo unaffordable and contribute to economic uncertainty.
• An analysis of US ports by World Bank Group and S&P Global found only eight US ports rank in the top 100 of the world’s most efficient water entryways. The port of Charleston, South Carolina was the country’s most efficient, but still ranked at a somewhat lowly 52nd place. US port inefficiency is caused by a lack of automation in data systems and cargo equipment, resulting in longer wait times to process imports and exports. On an efficiency scale of 1 to 10, US ports scored an average of 3.7, while other nations averaged 7.9. Automation is critical to modern port operations, but such upgrades may not occur soon. The US averted a strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association in 2024 that would have crippled East Coast and Gulf ports by raising pay almost 60%, but the issue of automation was kicked down the road into 2025.