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Issue: 1027 Date: 4/29/2010
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Regional Ports Are Also Vital to Economic Development Efforts
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| Dennis Wilmsmeyer, General Manager of the Tri-City Regional Port Authority,and Susan Stauder, Vice President of Infrastructure for the RCGA |
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The St. Louis region is home to a 70-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, known as the Port of Metropolitan St. Louis, which includes some 130 port facilities. It is the nation's third largest port system in terms of tonnage of shipments, with a historic focus on coal, agriculture and petroleum products. Reports on this extensive system were provided at the RCGA's Illinois Public Affairs Committee meeting last Friday by Dennis Wilmsmeyer, General Manager of the Tri-City Regional Port District and Susan Stauder, Vice President of Infrastructure for the RCGA.
Wilmsmeyer noted that despite reduced shipments in 2009 due to the national recession, last year was the "best year ever" for Tri-City in terms of economic development. He explained that five new companies are now using the port, including Abengoa Bioenergy, Airgas Specialty Products, Arizon Companies, ARCH Air Methods and the U.S. Army Reserves. The Port District also benefited recently from a $6 million "TIGER" grant under the federal stimulus bill, which will enable partial development of the South Harbor (located just north of downtown) by constructing a rail loop and some flood relief wells. Wilmsmeyer also spoke about the importance of an ongoing multi-state effort to develop a "Marine Highway" along the I-55 corridor between St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans to increase shipping and help relieve congestion on our roads.
Susan Stauder talked with IPAC about the three port authorities on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, the most active of which is the City of St. Louis. The City's Port Authority manages leases of city-owned waterfront properties, and operation of its Municipal River Terminal where an EDA grant is helping fund $19.5 million in work. In addition to cargo handling, City port facilities focus on barge fleeting and fueling, since river tows must be broken down into smaller configurations if they are moving northbound, and can be combined into larger ones to go south from St. Louis.
St. Louis County is also developing a port authority and Jefferson County is now conducting a feasibility study and market analysis to explore opportunities to create public and private port facilities and waterfront development. The announcement by the Doe Run Company that smelting and refining at Herculaneum will be discontinued by 2017 (to be replaced by a cleaner lead recovery process) has created an opportunity to repurpose activity at their waterfront site for port development. Herculaneum and Crystal City have emerged out of the work done to date as prime sites for port development in Jefferson County.
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