RRFN’s third ranked story for the past year is the unprecedented transportation woes facing agricultural shipments. At the end of the year, the Suez Canal and cargo shipments on the Red Sea were facing attacks from militant rebels. Mother Nature was the enemy on other transportation routes with the drought impacting water levels on the Mississippi River, the Amazon and through the Panama Canal. A five-day closure of the Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas rail crossings into Mexico was the big story in the final days of the year. Market analysts described these transportation troubles as “unprecedented.”
