Illinois hopes rivers can help plug state's job leak in 2004

PEORIA, Ill. -- Even supporters concede that the notion of ports in corn-covered Illinois doesn't ring quite right.

"It's like the Port of Tulsa. People don't even realize there's water there, but it's a big operation," said Don Miller Jr., president of The Port Group LLC, an Indiana-based firm that has developed ports in Chicago and owns land in the state's newest port district near Peoria.

Commerce officials think riverfront ports along the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois and other rivers can boost Illinois' teetering economy, helping plug a leak that has seen more than 200,000 jobs stream out of the state over the last four years.

"I think they're underutilized assets and a tremendous opportunity for economic growth. This is a competitive strength we have here in Illinois," said Jack Lavin, director of the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The idea isn't new. About a dozen port districts were established in the 1950s and 1960s, from Waukegan to Shawneetown in Southern Illinois.

A handful have succeeded, others have foundered or haven't gotten off the ground at all. Money for startup costs was a problem for some, including Shawneetown's now-idle port along the Ohio River. In downstate Carmi and Mount Carmel, ports stalled when plans fell through to dredge channels deep enough for barge traffic on the Wabash and Little Wabash rivers, which feed into the Ohio.

"I'd like to hope that doesn't happen to us. We need a deal like this," said Dan Silverthorn, a member of Peoria's new port board who hopes the project provides jobs for the 15,000 union members in his west-central Illinois building trades council.

Lavin thinks the Peoria port district will buck the trend, creating 2,000 jobs over the next 15 years along a six-mile stretch of the Illinois River, south of the city.

Miller agreed, and said the 185 acres his company bought last year in the fledgling port district already has drawn interest from four companies, including a renewable fuel manufacturer and an auto industry supplier.

"But I always warn people that it's a slow process. If we get one or two businesses a year it's a great year," Miller said.

Manufacturers are the key to an inland port's success, Miller said. Unlike oceanside ports, he said, river ports rely more on industry than dock operations. He estimated that dock work will comprise only about 15 percent of his project's business, with the rest coming from plants making products that could range from steel to ethanol.

Miller said river ports are attractive to businesses because they have access to various forms of transportation -- river, rail, roads and air. And he said the competition generally drives down shipping costs.

"It's a little like having two gas stations across the street from each other," he said.

Port officials have approached Caterpillar Inc., the Peoria area's leading employer, and hope the heavy-equipment maker will join the new riverfront development.

"It's really too early to determine what the interest might be," said Caterpillar spokesman Lori Porter.

Area farmers could see immediate benefits from the Peoria port, which would give them another option for their grain beyond local elevators and private river docks, said John Hawkins, spokesman for the Illinois Farm Bureau.

"It creates competition. Any time you have more bidders for grain it's always good," Hawkins said.

Jim McConoughey, head of Peoria County's chamber of commerce and economic development council, thinks retailers could be lured by the lower cost of river shipping.

"Companies are always looking for ways to shave pennies. If we offer up a service that helps them with that I think it will be fairly attractive," McConoughey said.

Lavin said the state is trying to boost riverfront development and recently pumped $4 million into a low-interest loan fund for port districts.

Bill Steep, chairman of Seneca's port authority, thinks the loan program will be a good incentive if the state isn't too tight with the money.

"You can have Springfield say 'Yeah, we're going to finance it,' but when you go to the door and need a couple of hundred thousand it's hard to come by," said Steep, who said his district has saved or added about 250 jobs in the community of 2,100 since it was formed in 1961.

Cash could solve an ongoing problem for Shawneetown's port district, which has seen businesses come and go since it was launched in 1968, said Lawrence Wooden, a district board member for nearly 20 years.

"We've got terrible unemployment down in this area. That's what we'd like to do with the port authority, create some jobs," Wooden said.