Less money for dredging the Mississippi River in this year’s proposed budget for the Corps of Engineers could have a “devastating” effect on industries doing business on the river near the Port of Vicksburg, the port authority’s administrative director said this morning.

Funds allocated for the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project total $210 million for 2012 — $100 million less than what was authorized in 2010. Overall, the budget expects $4.63 billion for the Corps, about 6 percent less than the current budget and 15 percent less than in 2010, according to published reports.

Efforts to manage the capacity of the river to handle maritime commerce could balloon shipping costs for industry by placing more cargo on trucks, said Wayne Mansfield, executive director of the Warren County Port Commission, which oversees commerce there and at Ceres industrial park.

“By far, the river is the cheapest mode of transportation,” Mansfield said, echoing concerns of officials elsewhere of a potential domino effect on ports upriver from stalled dredging activity downriver from Vicksburg. “If that area’s not sufficiently dredged, it’ll have a potentially devastating effect.”

Shipments to the port have varied greatly from month to month since most of the facility’s T-dock crane support platform was replaced and reinforced in 2007 and has decreased overall. Tonnage of mainly dry cargo unloaded totaled 161,222 in 2010, down from 197,437 in 2009. Revenue slipped to $810,978.92 last year, from more than $1.2 million in 2009. Last week, Kinder Morgan, the port’s contract daily operator, was given a one-year extension on its current deal with Warren County to keep a pending deal with DuPont alive to move mineral ore shipments through the port.

Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp, the Corps’ chief engineer, said during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that federal funding priorities would be based on both commercial impact and safety risks with the goal of keeping the whole system open.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has told Corps officials that the planned budget has caused concern among commodity exporters who worry about the Corps’ ability to maintain the Mississippi River channel at authorized depths.

The Corps budget proposes cancellation of the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project, amounting to a cut of $57 million. The wetlands drainage project has been opposed by environmental groups.

Cochran also noted that the Mississippi River and its Tributaries Project is set to get $210 million in the year beginning October. That’s $100 million less than was authorized in 2010.

Cochran said insufficient dredging “will inevitably result in restrictions on shipping traffic and cargo.”

“I can’t help but wonder how we reconcile the economic requirements of being a robust exporter of goods, services and commodities in the international marketplace while reducing the capacity to handle cargo on the Mississippi River and its ports,” Cochran said.

Port of Memphis executive director James R. “Randy” Richardson said that Corps officials told him he’ll be getting $1.43 million this year and $1.39 million in the year beginning in October. The port received about $2.5 million in the previous two years, and “to do it right” really requires between $3 million and $4 million, Richardson said.

“What’s going to happen is, we’ll get the mouth dredged, which will allow the majority of industry to get in and out, and we’re going to fight for more funding, which is what we’re doing,” he said.

Jerry Hingle of the Southern U.S. Trade Association in New Orleans, which represents Southern state agriculture departments, said 2011 is supposed to be the strongest year ever for U.S. agriculture exports.

“The timing is absolutely awful for us to see this choke point,” Hingle said. “The moment we see one of those ships hit ground in one of the fingers that lead out of the Mississippi, we’re going to have some serious problems.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.