St. Louis region most efficient US inland port district, data shows

New data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the St. Louis region is home to the most efficient inland port district in the country.

The data was based on tons moved per river mile in 2022, the most recent year for which numbers are available. According to a news release from the St. Louis Regional Freightway, the region’s barge industry handled a whopping 369,309 tons per mile, around four times the average tons per mile moved by the other eight U.S. inland port districts.

The St. Louis Regional Freightway is a bistate regional freight district and comprehensive authority for freight operations in eight counties in southwestern Illinois and eastern Missouri, which make up the St. Louis metropolitan area.

St. Louis Metro Ports include the following ports: America’s Central Port in Illinois, Southwest Regional Port District in Illinois, St. Louis City Port Authority in Missouri, St. Louis County Port Authority in Missouri and Jefferson County Port Authority in Missouri.

These five ports – operating together along 70 miles of the Mississippi River – handled nearly 26 million tons of cargo in 2022. The St. Louis regional ports have previously been recognized for their efficiency.

The release stated that half of U.S. crops and livestock are produced within a 500-mile radius of the St. Louis region, including around 80% of corn and soybean acreage. In recent years, large portions of those commodities have been handled by the St. Louis region’s ports.

“With more than 200 barge handling terminals in the port district, which is strategically located as the northernmost ice-free and lock-free port on the Mississippi River and features exceptional multimodal capabilities, our ports are leaders in the movement of agricultural products,” said Mary Lamie, executive vice president of multimodal enterprises for bi-state development and head of the St. Louis Regional Freightway, in the release.

Dan Lester, senior vice president of business development for the infrastructure group at Ingram Marine Group, said in the release that efficiency today is increasingly important as more barges are retired and the price to build new ones increases.

St. Louis Regional Freightway stated in its release that Ingram is the leading carrier on inland waterways operating eight facilities along the Missouri and Illinois banks of the Mississippi River.

“How do you increase capacity without spending additional capital?” Lester said in the release. “You move to the more efficient operations like St. Louis. For us to be able to operate efficiently and create more capacity for our customers, we want to see product moving to areas where we can get them to a dock, unloaded and reloaded as quickly as possible.

“The value of the St. Louis region is based on efficiency. When you combine that with the infrastructure improvements we’re doing on our docks, it creates great opportunities for all shippers either north bound to St. Louis or south to the Gulf. Add in the fact that 35 barge tows can go all the way from the Gulf to St. Louis, and it’s clear that this route is the best option.”

The St. Louis Regional Freightway stated in its news release that its 2024 Priority Projects initiative allocating over $500 million in infrastructure improvements has recently been completed. The district has also funded over $2.3 billion in additional projects, with over $5 billion in more projects currently in the planning stages.

“These investments include not only enhancements to our region’s ports and interstates, but also improving at-grade rail crossings and increasing efficiency of freight rail interconnectivity with the region’s Class I railroads,” Lamie said. “Improving the entire network is key to supporting the barge industry and global competitiveness.”

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