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Container-on-Barge Service Coming to Riverport

Container-on-Barge Service Coming to Riverport
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By Bill Hughes
Apr. 20, 2019 | PADUCAH
By Bill Hughes Apr. 20, 2019 | 04:35 PM | PADUCAH
The Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority will add another valuable asset to the city's economic toolbox this summer: container-on-barge services. 

Over the last month, excavation and other preparatory work has taken place, along with three large concrete pours in what is called a "ground hardening project." The 14-inch concrete slabs will support any cargo they receive, but can also support stacked cargo containers, which can then be transferred to trucks for more localized delivery. 

The project was funded by a Delta Regional Authority Grant in 2017, but there were some delays in the work due to flooding on the Ohio River.

Bill Miller, Executive Director of the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority, said, "We expect that project to be completed within the next couple of weeks and be available for use at the end of May or early part of June."

He said they have also purchased three pieces of equipment that will be used with the tower crane for moving cargo. The equipment cost was about $397,000, with part of the expense covered by a $251,972 grant awarded last fall by the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Marine Highway program, with the riverport paying for the rest. 

Miller explained that container-to-barge service will allow the riverport to remove a container from a barge and temporarily hold it on the newly-poured area. Any local or regional company would then send a truck to get the container and take it to their facility. Miller said Paducah's Foreign Trade Zone designation and this new service will be advantageous to area manufacturers since they currently have to go to St. Louis or Memphis for the same service. He said this should also create more jobs in the area.

Miller said, "There will be more truck driving jobs, naturally, for the port itself once we're up and we're operating at a decent volume. We're looking at about 14 new hires, and naturally, on the equipment side of it some maintenance contractors coming in to maintain the equipment."

He said he believes the Purchase Region will become more attractive to manufacturers since there will be a better supply chain using a combination of barge and truck transportation, and they can use what he calls, "just in time inventory." That's where a company can access what they need within the time it takes to send a truck to get a container in Paducah, instead of having to arrange something from much farther away. Miller said local rail and air services may also benefit from the increased international awareness of the service in an FTZ.

He said company CFOs and CEOs are aware of the cost savings of foreign trade zones, so this is, "another tool in the toolbox for economic development people to utilize."

Miller said when everything is in place and all of the agencies that have helped can arrange to come to Paducah, the riverport authority will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony. He also hopes to have a, "show and tell," session to demonstrate the service to local officials, stakeholders and anyone else who is interested.
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