By NANCY LYBARGER
Indiana Correspondent

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. — Cruising up and down the Ohio River may seem like a lazy thing to do on a summer day, but more than 100 agricultural producers and businesspeople were doing it to learn, on Aug. 20.

The third annual Ohio River Barge and Port tour was presented by the Indiana Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) and the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA). There were two legs to the tour this year, launching from the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville on Aug. 16 and the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon Aug. 20.

The goal was to show the importance of river transportation and inland waterways for Indiana agriculture, according to Gary Lamey, ICGA president.

“The river is our lifeblood,” said Jeff Rice of the Kentucky Corn Growers Assoc., as he welcomed participants to the tour.

Unless one lives close to a major inland waterway, it doesn’t easily come to mind how many tons of grain are shipped annually by barge to the Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes for export. About 624 million tons of waterborne cargo is transported through 12,000 miles of commercially navigable streams, according to a study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, Center for Ports and Waterways. The study found 60 percent of that tonnage is U.S. grain.

The second tour included locking through the dam at John T. Myers Locks and Dam near Uniontown, Ky., after leaving from the terminal at Mount Vernon. This structure includes a 1,200-foot long main lock chamber and a 600-foot auxiliary lock. Rehabilitation and expansion of the 35-year-old structure is being proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Speakers on the barge tours compared the inland waterway system to interstate highways, except the means of transport is less expensive for shippers and more environmentally friendly than either truck or rail transports.

Executive director of the ISA and Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Mark Henderson said 25 percent of each year’s Hoosier harvest comes through the port in southwestern Indiana. That amounts to between $1 billion-$1.5 billion in grain.

Scott Strickland of Consolidated Grain & Barge said barges are the least expensive way to move grain to export terminals. However, he said this also affects the costs of other transportation modes. If the trip by rail or truck is to a port and the rest of the way is by barge, the cost is reduced.

If transport by waterways is disturbed, such as when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, all modes of transport suffer as well. Jim Tarman of the ICGA said shipping delays cost 8-10 cents a bushel.

The Texas Transportation Institute report found if the Mississippi and Illinois rivers in the St. Louis area were closed to barge traffic and cargo diverted to rail and highway, “truck traffic on St. Louis roadways would increase by 200 percent.”

Barge transport is by far the “greenest” way to ship, too, Strickland said. Data from the National Waterways Foundation indicates per ton of cargo moved, inland barges produce 19.3 tons of carbon dioxide per million ton-miles, compared to 26.9 tons produced by rail transport and 71.6 tons by semis.

At Mount Vernon, like other major ports, production facilities have built close to take advantage of the waterway. Archer Daniels Midland Co. has a flour mill on the riverfront where soft red wheat is milled for cake flour, Strickland said. CountryMark established a refinery in Mount Vernon. It now ships 25,000 barrels of fuel to the port.

Marathon located here to ship crude from barge tankers to its pipeline that leads to the Robinson, Ill., refinery, he added. Cargill has a facility along the Ohio River near Mount Vernon, as well. The company, formerly Continental Grain, has a five million-bushel storage capacity. Strickland estimated 220,000 bushels are moved per day, at 30,000 bushels per hour.

“During the winter, four barges a day are loaded out,” he said, noting the world’s grain markets rely on the southern Ohio River area as a grain source during those months. “The market waits for grain to come out of this area.”

That will be especially important this year, as buyers look for high quality grain, he said.

Funding waterway maintenance and repairs was a topic for several tour speakers. Paul Rhode, vice president of the Midwest office of the Waterways Council, said there are 240 locks-and-dams systems on the 1,200 miles of Midwest waterways. Many of those systems are between 50-80 years old, having been built as WPA projects during the Great Depression. Rhode and Tarman urged those on the tour to contact their senators and representatives to support funding for projects that upgrade these locks-and-dams systems.

Maurice Owen of Yellow Banks River Terminal in Owensboro, Ky., urged participants to support the Inland Rivers Ports and Terminals, a national trade association of traders on shallow port system, in their lobbying efforts to get funding for ports. He said none of the $80 billion annual funding in transportation bill goes to ports funding.

“They spend not a dime to improve access to ports, to get produce to barges,“ Owen said.

As the new president of the organization, he will be in Washington, D.C., to educate legislators about the importance of inland waterways and the necessity of federal funding for maintenance and development. He said Europe and south America are spending significant money on making ports more efficient and river systems more navigable.

“One bulk barge holds 1,600 tons. That equals 65 truckloads or 15 rail hopper cars ... In liquid fuel, a 15-barge tow equals 2,160 truckloads ... You do the math,” he said. “We’ve been milking the cow, but forgetting to feed her for too long.”