The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville handled over 2.4 million tons of cargo in 2014, up 48 percent from the previous year. This was the first time annual shipments exceeded two million tons in the port’s 29-year history.
The 2014 total was 464,000 tons higher than the previous record set in 2006. Steel and salt shipments set all-time records, up 72 percent and 51 percent from 2013, respectively. For the year, the port handled approximately 1,300 barges, 197,000 trucks and 18,000 railcars.
“These robust year-end numbers illustrate the impact our port companies have on the region’s economy,” said Ports of Indiana CEO Rich Cooper. “We also had tremendous growth in the port’s ‘steel campus’ in 2014 as five companies announced over $50 million of new investments related to steel processing. The port’s access to the Ohio River provides a sustainable competitive advantage for multimodal companies that want to reach world markets from the Midwest.”
In 2014, Mill Steel Co., of Grand Rapids, Mich., opened a new flat-rolled steel service center at the port as part of its purchase and immediate expansion of an existing 105,000 square foot facility at the port. The expansion will more than double the size of the acquired facility and was financed through the use of the port’s development financing capabilities.
In addition, the Diez Group, part of the Delaco Steel family of businesses, Dearborn, Mich., and Louisville’s Steel Technologies began a new joint-venture operation at the port, Delaco Kasle Processing of Indiana. The new operation will expand the former venture’s 120,000 square-foot-facility, which has operated since 2004, to 226,000 square feet and process aluminum, steel coils and blanks for the automotive, appliance and agricultural industries. Three long-term port companies, Voss Clark, Steel Dynamics and Metals USA also made major investments to accelerate line speeds, increase capacity and improve high-strength steel processing. The port now has 13 steel-related businesses located on its “steel campus” offering processing, warehousing, stevedoring and distribution services.
“This is a transformational time for our port,” said Port Director Scott Stewart. “The shipping records, major company investments and the construction of a new Ohio River bridge are all strong indicators of future economic growth in this region. When the new interstate bridge opens in 2016 just a mile away, this port will have significantly improved access to new markets in the region stretching from Louisville and Cincinnati to Lexington and Nashville.”
The $2.6 billion Louisville Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project is one of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects and a key driver for port growth.
The port now has 28 companies and 325 acres of industrial sites available for multimodal businesses that utilize river and rail transportation. The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville has year-round barge service to 20-plus states and ocean vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as rail service provided by CSX, Louisville-Indiana Railroad and onsite switching operations by MG Rail.