HERCULANEUM • The Jefferson County Port Authority was established back in 1975, but there's still nothing that comes close to being a bustling port in the county.
Now, the authority's chairman thinks that's about to change.
Four months ago, Doe Run Co. announced it would give easements for road improvements on the edge of its Herculaneum lead-smelting operations, which lie on the banks of the Mississippi River. This will allow easy access to the river from nearby Highway 61-67 and Interstate 55.
"We're really optimistic," said Dan Govero, a land surveyor based in Imperial who is the Port Authority chairman. "We've got all this water frontage in Jefferson County that's never been used. The key is having access from our highways, and we're about to get that."
Now the Port Authority is looking at the Herculaneum riverfront as the site of the first phase of a planned major port to serve barge traffic. Barges typically carry bulk commodities, like coal and grains.
Doe Run already operates a small port for its own business at Herculaneum. Govero said that would be incorporated into any major county port.
With luck, he said, a master plan will be presented to county officials by January, and port construction could start in 2012 if the county approves and all needed permits are obtained.
Ultimately, the port project could be expanded along the riverfront to include parts of Pevely, Crystal City and Festus. That four-city area is centrally located along the section of the Mississippi that flows past Jefferson County.
The first phase of a Jefferson County port feasibility study by TranSystems of St. Louis was completed this year and found no significant problems with a Herculaneum port site.
Still, others are skeptical about the need for another large port in the area.
"It's hard to see where the growth (in barge traffic) is going to come from," said Donald Sweeney, associate director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Sweeney, who studies river transportation, noted that under the most recent figures compiled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the tonnage of goods shipped by barge through the St. Louis area declined at a rate of about 3 percent a year from 2004 through 2008, from 33.3 million tons to 29.5 million tons.
Shipping by barge is inexpensive relative to other means, but it's slow and can be delayed by river conditions, he added.
Doe Run has paid $200,000 to help cover the costs of the Jefferson County port feasibility study. Other financial contributors to the study include Eagle Bank, the Carpenters District Council, the Laborers District Council, the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation and the Jefferson County Industrial Development Corporation.
The next phase is looking at cargo needs and identifying shippers and terminal operators, as well as drafting a master development plan to be given to Jefferson County officials and others interested in the project.
Panama Canal ties
Govero also said he's optimistic that a Jefferson County port could reap a substantial amount of business from a big expansion of the Panama Canal, set to be completed in 2014.
The expansion will double the canal's capacity and likely will help generate significant new barge traffic on the Mississippi River, he said
The Panama Canal expansion could generate more river traffic because it would make shipping long distances on the water easier, Sweeney said. But he also said it was too soon to predict a large increase in barge traffic because of the expansion.
Officials say the construction phase at Herculaneum alone could generate from $1.7 billion to $2 billion in new economic activity for the county over the life of the project.
Meanwhile, an expanded port could bring in $225 million to $267 million annually in additional local economic activity, the initial study projected.
Govero noted that a major Jefferson County port could become the largest such facility between south St. Louis County and Memphis, Tenn., and also could be a key docking center for barges that travel the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans.
Officials estimated the cost of the proposed four-cities port development at between $500 million and $600 million, with an additional $90 million needed for initial site work and meeting environmental standards.
Govero said it's too soon to discuss financing, but that the development would be a public-private partnership.
He hopes the federal and state governments would provide grants and tax breaks because of the need to ship more commodities by barge. "It's the most economical form of transportation," he said.
Two major rail lines — the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern — serve Jefferson County and could be used as part of a "transportation trifecta" of trains, trucks and barges to ship goods through the county, he said.
