PORT ON VERGE OF BOOM TIMES

The new highway that will connect the port with I-55 is under construction.

SCOTT CITY -- It looks as if the Southeast Missouri Port Authority's ship is on the horizon and preparing to dock.

With the Missouri Department of Transportation expecting to complete a direct route from Interstate 55 to the port, one new business under construction and two more making plans to move to the port -- this could be a banner year for both the authority and Scott City.

Dan Overbey, port authority director, said the city and the port are in line for as much as $440,000 in Community Block Development Grant money that is tied into the development of three businesses in the area.

Overbey said $190,000 would be awarded if one new business commits to coming to the port. It would also be tied to the development of Dyno-Midwest, a blasting products company that adjoins the port.

Overbey said the money would be used for road improvements in the port and a new water well in Scott City.

If the full amount of the grant is awarded, Overbey said new rail lines could be laid and the city's water system improved. The additional $250,000 would come from the finalization of plans by Riverport Terminals Inc. to move to the port.

"It would be nice to have. It's also good to have the cooperation of Scott City; we kind of have a partnership," Overbey said. "We're making progress."

Riverport would put into place a bagging center that would transfer grains and grain-meals from trains and trucks to barges for transport to the Gulf of Mexico. Gary Hascall, Riverport president, said initially the center would be able to ship out 330,000 tons of material a year. But plans are in place for a long-term addition that would double that capacity.

Hascall said the company hopes to open the center in November and employ about 35 people. He said over the next five to 10 years the company could expand to 125 employees.

"Everything is tentative until right up until all of the financial instruments are in place," Hascall said.

Riverport is working to finalize its plans with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the Missouri Bootheel Regional Planning Authority and the Southeast Planning Authority.

Hascall said his company chose the port because of its proximity to I-55, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and the Mississippi River.

"This is one of the very few locations that is genuinely inter-mobile. We can go from any mode to any other mode of transportation; and we can leverage those different modes against each other for cost efficiency," Hascall said.

That storage unit would join a $4 million, 230,000-bushel, grain elevator that is being constructed by Consolidated Grain and Barge Co.

John Sutton, local manager of Consolidated Grain, said the project will initially hire about 10 people but long-term plans hope to double that over the next few years.

The elevator, which should be completed by January, is the first stage in a series of developments from Consolidated Grain, Sutton said. A drier could be installed by the fall of 1998 and a rail system implemented after that.

Sutton said most grain shipments will arrive by truck until the company can establish some railroad business. He said Consolidated Grain decided to set up at the port because of the Nash Road project. The port's rail access will allow the company to grow.

"That's a big plus," Sutton said.

Kin Dillon, port authority board chairman, said the port is on the verge of a boom. But it's not an overnight success story. The port's potential accomplishments are the culmination of 25 years of work.

"All the work that has gone into it for the last 25 years is beginning to pay off," said Dillon, who has been with the board for 10 of those years. "All the guys before me, and all the boards before us, have worked long hours to get to this point."