Port officials see potential for major economic impact
CATOOSA -- Twenty years from now, leaders would like to
see a larger, more prosperous Tulsa Port of Catoosa.
A larger port headquarters, with more employees.
A new terminal to handle containers arriving on barges.
Nearby, more medical offices, restaurants and stores to
serve employees.
Officials of the Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority believe
the port is on the verge of something big, after seeing
a near-record year for shipping in 2006 and scoring a deal
for 525 acres of undeveloped, adjacent land.
"If we can keep what we're doing right now, I think
it will be a big economic boost to northeast Oklahoma,"
said Steve Kissee, chairman of the port authority, in a
recent interview. "I think it will be an area of employment
that everyone will look at."
The port handled 2.3 million tons of cargo in 2006, up
nearly 28 percent from the previous year. The record is
2.4 million tons in 1998, and port officials believe that
may be broken this year.
About 100 jobs were created last year, Kissee said, bringing
the port's total employment to 3,650 at 67 industries.
More and more steel is arriving at the port because of
a booming energy sector and strong growth in construction
and manufacturing activity.
Grain transports suffered a bit because of last year's
historic drought. Grain is the second-largest shipping commodity,
by ton, at the port.
Nevertheless, DeBruce Grain Inc. built a large terminal
at the port last year and stepped up operations. And the
former Erlanger Tubular Corp., now owned by Ipsco Inc.,
leased 18 more acres at the port.
Ipsco, based in Lisle, Ill., purchased Erlanger's parent,
NS Group Inc. of Kentucky. The business is now Ipsco Tubulars.
"If you see companies like (Ipsco) coming along to
buy these kinds of assets, and you see DeBruce coming along,
that tells you a lot about what the future has in store
for us," said port director Robert Portiss.
The port is also improving its infrastructure. About 3,000
feet of rail storage was added last year. And improvements
are planned at the port's northern entrance, with the realignment
of Arkansas Road with Keetonville Road, a traffic light
added, and a truck staging area.
"It will help in today's world, with terrorism and
everything else," Kissee said. "It will just control
our environment a whole lot more."
Another asset, officials said, is the $2.5 million purchase
last month of 525 acres of neighboring land from Philadelphia
developer Philip Seltzer.
The property won't be developed right away, Kissee said.
But Portiss believes some of it should be set aside soon
for a container-on-barge facility -- the latest trend in
shipping.
Freight is increasingly being shipped around the world
in containers on barges and large ships. Additionally, shipping
traffic at U.S. coastal ports is becoming congested, Portiss
said, requiring some companies to shift routes.
Portiss believes some shipping companies will change their
ports of call to the Gulf Coast, such as Houston or New
Orleans, and set up operations where goods can be transferred
from ships to barges.
The barges could then travel to New Orleans and enter inland
waterways for destinations like Memphis, Tenn.; Chicago;
Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; St. Louis; or Tulsa.
Portiss said he had a conversation with someone from Maersk
Line, a major shipping company based in Denmark, who said
one of its ships can hold 13,000 containers, each 40 feet
long.
"That's unbelievable," Portiss said.
Despite the port's growth, some stiff challenges lie ahead.
One is dredging three areas of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas
River Navigation System in Oklahoma and Arkansas to a depth
of 12 feet. That would allow 30 percent more carrying capacity
for each barge.
According to Portiss, a recent study by the Army Corps
of Engineers concluded that the project will cost about
$150 million, and the benefits justify it moving forward.
But Congress has only appropriated $7 million.
The last session of Congress appropriated no new money,
and with the new demands in Iraq, Portiss said, prospects
for more funding are uncertain.
Another problem, he said, is a nationwide backlog of infrastructure
repairs at ports totaling $1.4 million. The seven locks
on the upper Mississippi River, which are 80 years old,
will take $1.8 billion to replace, Portiss said.
Efforts in Washington to boost spending on infrastructure
upgrades at ports failed last year. A lack of upkeep could
affect the shipping industry's viability, Portiss said,
just when the U.S. needs alternative ways to transport goods.
"We haven't built any more highways across this country,
and we haven't built any more railroads across the country,"
he said. "As a consequence, the inland water system
has more capacity -- capacity that hasn't been used."
2%
economic growth seen in '07