NATCHEZ – Barge traffic on the Mississippi River is back at full tilt after being briefly stopped last week when Hurricane Katrina hit the lower reaches of the river.

Michael Logue of the Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said river traffic was largely unaffected by the storm.

“We closed down the river long enough to evaluate it, but it’s open again,” Logue said. “The Secretary of Agriculture has opened it back up to two-way shallow draft vessel travel.”

That means that Midwest grain growers will still be able to ship their products downriver on barges to grain elevators on the Gulf Coast. About 63 percent of the grain capacity on the lower Mississippi had already been restored by Wednesday, Logue said.

In fact, the biggest potential impediment to barge traffic has nothing at all to do with Katrina. Logue said continuing drought conditions have river levels low enough that barges may have trouble navigating some areas of the river.

“We’re getting down to low water levels,” Logue said. “It’s almost funny – there’s too much water on one end and not enough on the other.”

What was affected by Katrina was the Port of New Orleans, which has been all but shut down since the hurricane hit.

Officials from the New Orleans Port have said they will resume some operations this weekend and hope to have operations at 50 percent capacity within a month and full operations within six months.

Natchez Port Director Anthony Hauer said ports from Florida all the way to New Orleans have been affected and will have to help shoulder the load while damaged ports rebuild.

“Things are being done to accommodate the shipping industry,” Hauer said. “It will continue, not as we knew it prior to the hurricane maybe, but the U.S. relies heavily on waterborne cargo.”

Hauer has spoken to port directors along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, those that he can reach, anyway.

“Baton Rouge has been real congested and some businesses are moving their operations to the Lake Charles are for the moment,” Hauer said.

The Natchez port may also have to help shoulder the load of some ports that were damaged by the storm until they can be repaired and go back into full operation, Hauer said.

“If we need to, we stand ready for any business,” Hauer said. “We’ll move cargo (other ports) so they can have it when they rebuild, but we’re not looking at this as an opportunity to steal business. Nobody’s in the industry to cut anybody else’s throat.”

Hauer said his port has not had any impact yet from damage the hurricane caused on the Gulf Coast, though he says it is a possibility.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.