By NANCY LYBARGER
Indiana Correspondent

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. — Last year saw 4.5 million tons of product move through the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon, according to Phil Wilzbacher, port director, on a recent bus tour of the ports for Indiana Corn and Soy (see related story on page 1B).

Wilzbacher said that number constituted a 20 percent increase from 2008 and was the third-highest volume in the history of the port. Coal and grain represented 80 percent of the tonnage, he said.

The port consists of 1,000 acres and 10 companies that operate on its grounds. An ethanol production plant is being constructed now and is due to open in November. A pipeline from it will directly load the fuel into barge tankers.

The riverfront is dotted with long conveyors and huge cranes. Consolidated Grain and Barge (CGB) built the first terminal of its kind on an inland waterway to load ethanol from a railroad tanker to a barge.

Wilzbacher said the boiler at CGB annually processes 26 million bushels of grain. The boiler is designed to burn scrap wood and chipped rubber.

On the port’s riverfront, Babcock & Wilcox Marine Terminal Operation has constructed one of the largest lift capacity cranes on an inland waterway. Michael Keene, with Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, said the 500-ton crane has a 1,000-ton lift capability, and it takes 24 minutes to lower to a waiting barge. He said the Babcock & Wilcox dock will accommodate an oceangoing barge.

Babcock & Wilcox is one of the founding companies in commercial nuclear manufacturing. When the nuclear power industry tanked following the Three-Mile Island disaster in 1979, Keene said, the company found other contracts.

He opined that the nuclear power plant business is poised for revitalization in the United States. At this time, he said there are 104 nuclear power generating plants in the country.

With the U.S. population center being in Evansville, Ind. – just up the river from Mount Vernon – he said the facility is situated in the middle of energy demand. The Mount Vernon facility is the only U.S. plant capable of producing heavy nuclear components, according to Keene.

Babcock & Wilcox have facilitated transport of components to the new coal-fired power plant at Edwardsport, Ind., offloading 1,300 tons of materials.

Supporting the tows that dock at the port, Mount Vernon Barge Co. provided the tow barge for the J.T. Myers ag tour (see related article). The company, established in 1962, provides harbor service with six harbor tugs and 19 docks for commercial tows, according to employee Wayne McDonald.