Re-read the post. There is no reason to write it off. The main channel is intact for ocean going ships. The lower river has already been re-opened to barge traffic. The docks upstream from New Orleans are probably in good shape; even the ones on the West Bank can probably be put back into service fairly quickly. The railroads are inspecting bridges and roadbeds, and should be back in operation except for the flooded areas fairly soon.
Last I saw was that the LOOP hadn't found any major problems and was pressure testing the pipelines to make sure that there were no hidden problems.
If there is any industry that has experience in rapidly putting the pieces back together after their property is trashed by nature, that is the one. Railroads can be obtuse as hell about a lot of things, but their track and structure employes are generally people who know what they are about.
The WSJ other article on that page, Gulf, River Shippers Scramble has the following:
...The port of New Orlenas remains closed to ocean shipping, awaiting assessment of damages caused by Hurricane Katrina. If the river or surrounding ports are unusable for months, problems like Mr. Snider's could be reported a million fold at companies across the country.
Survey crews for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration yesterday began surveying lowere Mississippi ship channels for obstructions, focusing on the southernmost 20 miles or so. Officials worry about the condition of the channel below the water's surface because aerial surveys show shrimp boats crushed together and numerous barges and vessels washed up on levees along the sides of the channel. Surveying was to resume today.
... end of excerpt of article ...
I am not saying the channel is open or not, but this article claims the use of some of the ports may be months away. Maybe it is only days.
But the real problem is that this is grain harvesting time, and normally the grain flows down the river by barge traffic. Maybe the grain can be offloading upstream and sent by railroad car to other major ports. But this particular article talks about the problem of rerouting the commerce -- Mr. Snider is a banana importer, and now must reroute his distribution system from Freeport, TX to the Midwest. (That means new routes for the trucks.)
So I am not certain with what this 2nd article says that the Mississippi River is open for business -- even if ships go to Baton Rouge for loading/offloading...