Federal grant puts port on track for trainload shipments; loans needed to take port to next level

A federal grant has put the Southeast Missouri Regional Port on track to handle trainload shipments at its Scott City facility within the next several years.

It was announced last week the regional port authority would receive a $19.8 million grant to help fund a $33 million project to construct two loop tracks and a terminal at the Mississippi River port.

Cary Harbison, port executive director, welcomed the grant funding.

�We are very excited,� he said Monday.

But he cautioned more funding has to be put in place before construction can begin.

Jackson Prater, Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority manager of customer service, points to a map of the port Monday indicating where a proposed rail loop project will be installed in Scott City.KASSI JACKSON

The grant will fund 60 percent of the cost. The remainder is expected to come from loans, Harbison said.

The port authority plans to seek a $6.6 million federal loan. The authority then will have to come up the remaining $6.6 million, which could come from bank loans.

�We have spoken to several banks. They are open to loaning the money,� Harbison said.

But securing all of the loans and completing all the paperwork won�t happen �super fast,� he said.

Some of the project already has been designed, but there is more engineering work to do, according to Harbison.

Crews work on Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority property Monday near where a proposed rail loop project will be located in Scott City.TYLER GRAEF

If all goes well with the financing, work could begin in late 2019 or the first part of 2020, he said.

The project could take three to four years to complete, Harbison said. The construction could be affected by periodic river flooding, he added.

�We hope flooding doesn�t slow us down,� he said.

Harbison, a former project manager at Bowen Engineering and Surveying in Cape Girardeau, was hired as the port�s assistant director in 2016. He became the director July 1, replacing longtime director Dan Overbey.

Harbison said the port authority began considering the loop track project nearly two decades ago. Harbison said he performed some engineering work for the project when he worked at Bowen Engineering.

Graded earth is seen on Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority property Monday near where a proposed rail loop project will be located in Scott City.TYLER GRAEF

In August 2017, Overbey outlined the project to the Southeast Missourian.

Overbey said the project involves construction of two loop tracks, each more than 2 miles in length, and a terminal to handle trainload shipments.

Plans call for construction of a terminal and installation of a conveyor system to unload entire trains of more than 100 cars carrying a single product.

The product would be transferred via the conveyor system to Mississippi River barges, Overbey said.

Harbison said having two loop tracks allows one train to be unloaded while another is parked, waiting to be unloaded.

Once the loop-track project is completed, the port would be able to unload a 110-car train in about 14 hours, he said.

It would take about seven barges to handle all the cargo unloaded from a unit train, Harbison said.

The port handles about 1 million barge tons of product annually. Another 300,000 to 400,000 tons of product are shipped out by truck and rail.

Once the improvements are made, the port hopes to handle even more tonnage, Harbison said.

Overbey said of the loop-track project last year, �It is kind of like going from the minor league to the major league if you can handle an entire unit train.�

mbliss@semissourian.com

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