Development News From Southwest Indiana

Ohio River port is "on a roll'
By TOM RAITHEL, Evansville Business Journal staff writer, July 9. 2005

Activity at local ports is a good indicator of economic strength, says Jody Peacock, spokesman for the Ports of Indiana.

If he's right, the Tri-State economy is going great guns.

Since hitting a recent low of 1.7 million tons in 1999, the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon has nearly doubled its tonnage. While it shipped more than 3,000 tons of cargo in only two months prior to 2004, the port has shipped 3,000 tons or more in every month since September 2004, Peacock said.

Last year was the best year at the port since 1998. So far, this year is 37 percent ahead of last year at this time, Peacock said.

"The port has really been on a roll since the middle of last year," Peacock said.

This Ohio River port, formerly known as the Southwind Maritime Centre, is the largest, in terms of tonnage, of Indiana's three ports. The other ports are at Burns Harbor on Lake Michigan and at Jeffersonville along the Ohio River in Southeastern Indiana.

Indiana stands as the 14th state in the nation in terms of total shipping through ports, Peacock said.

Phil Wilzbacher, port director at Mount Vernon, said the port covers about 745 acres, most of which hosts businesses involved in port shipping. About 245 acres on this site remain open for development, he said.

Opened in 1977, the port has an estimated economic impact to the Tri-State area of about $236 million annually. The port and the companies located there employ 344, Wilzbacher said.

The port hit its shipping peak in the early 1990s. In 1994, the port handled 5.07 million tons of cargo as it shipped supplies to a major Florida utility. However, in 1999, the Florida utility opted to get its coal elsewhere and only spot coal shipments came through the port.

In mid-2001, however, Alliance Coal began transporting from its mines in Illinois up the Ohio River to Cinergy's East Bend Power Plant near Cincinnati.

Wilzbacher said Alliance, which owns Mount Vernon Transfer Terminal, has since opened that facility to third parties, or other coal suppliers, allowing the port to ship more coal.

"The existing industries located within the port have developed some pretty aggressive marketing efforts" to boost port activity, Wilzbacher added.

Peacock offered another reason for the increased port activity: the port entered into a partnership with Consolidated Terminal and Logistics Co., an affiliate with Consolidated Grain and Barge, an important port tenant. Consolidated Terminal has become the general cargo stevedore and, using its resources from around the country, has worked to build up specialized general cargos, especially coiled steel.

These cargos, while still small in volume, are more expensive and pay higher tariffs than the bulk cargos of coal and grain, which constitute most of the port's shipments. As a result, the partnership with Consolidated Terminal has allowed the port to tap an important source of income, Peacock said.

Finally, the port's activities are dependent on the demand for coal and on the grain harvest. These, too, have been strong in recent years, and port officials have taken advantage of this to grow business, Peacock said.

The goal of the port for the future is to continue to grow. Wilzbacher said the port, so far, has grown through the efforts of its tenant businesses. It can also boost business by attracting more businesses to its property.

"We try to generate an environment that can provide assistance to businesses located within the port," Wilzbacher said.

Peacock said the future of water transportation is bright. Water transportation is more efficient than highway or rail, and the inland waterways, such as the Ohio River, are under-utilized national resources.

"There is a great opportunity for growth in the use of waterways as an alternative (transportation)," Peacock said.