An improving economy, along with river lock repairs on the Arkansas River, just downstream from the Port of Muskogee in Oklahoma, have been accredited to the increase in traffic at Johnston Terminal according to terminal manager Josh Taylor and Port officials.
As of August of this year, 2,356 rail cars have moved through the port, a major improvement from the 1,258 for the first eight months of 2009 and not far from the 2,660 observed in 2008. Barge traffic also increased from 217 barges from January to August of 2009 to 301 for the first eight months of 2010.
Port of Muskogee Director Scott Robinson has said that steel drove much of the traffic this year, and on September 23, trucks loaded petroleum coke from Kansas, a crane lifted steel spools out of another to be transported to Paragon Industries on the Port site, and a third barge was loaded with Gerdau Ameristeel's scrap steel simultaneously.
Robinson explains that "in some terms, 2007 was the end of a 20-year run in which Port traffic grew by 15 percent annually," and notes that the "oil and gas sector is not as strong as it was in 2007."
Robinson also believes that drastic drops in oil and gas prices were fueled by changes in the economy, thus prompting an oversupply of steel.
Taylor said steel traffic has doubled since last year, and that it is evident in both imports and exports.