Work approved on new $1.7 million warehouse at the Port of Fort Smith

The Fort Smith Port Authority Commission on Wednesday (April 24) approved construction of a new bulk storage warehouse estimated to cost $1.7 million. The warehouse helps make up for storage space lost in the historic Arkansas River flood of 2019.

Two warehouses, an office building, parking and a truck scale at the port were damaged during the 2019 record flooding.

Marty Shell, president of Van Buren-based Five Rivers Distribution which manages the Port of Fort Smith and has a port operation in Van Buren, said the planned new 30,000-square-foot warehouse is need to handle the growing demand for bulk storage of agriculture products. The two warehouses built after the 2019 flood have a combined 60,000 square feet, below the combined 80,000 square feet from the warehouses destroyed by the flood.

“The Port of Fort Smith needs this building, because Van Buren is pretty full, and we need to bring more storage over here in Fort Smith. … The existing warehouses there at the port (of Fort Smith) are needed because our existing warehouses are 85% full with more coming,” Shell told Talk Business & Politics.

He said a majority of what is stored in Fort Smith is bulk feed for the poultry and beef production industry.

A memo from Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman to members of the Fort Smith Port Authority Commission noted that the port will fund the project and seek subsequent grant funding.

“All costs presented assume the Port Authority will fully fund the project with its available resources. The Port Authority will make application to the Arkansas Waterways Commission’s 2024 Arkansas Port, Intermodal, and Waterway Development Grant with the intent of offsetting a portion of these costs. It is confirmed that proceeds from this grant can be applied to qualifying work or projects up to 12 months prior to application for the grant,” Dingman wrote.

Van Buren-based Cameron Hubbs Construction was selected as construction manager on the project. Shell said work will begin as soon as permits are approved by the City of Fort Smith, with construction to take about six months.

Shell said his Van Buren operation has about 350,000 square feet of warehouse space, with agri and steel products taking up most of that space. He said steel products they handle includes pig iron and steel bars for Gerdau’s Fort Smith plant, wire for Bekaert’s Van Buren plant, and steel coils for Rheem’s Fort Smith operation.

He said receiving thousands of tons of bulk steel and agri products via the Arkansas River reduces traffic and wear-and-tear on federal, state and local roads.

“That’s stuff (bulk) you don’t see going up and down the highways because we bring that in on the waterway before we ship it out,” he said.

However, Shell does have a busy trucking operation. He said around 10 trucks a day take product out of the Port of Fort Smith, and up to 100 trucks a day deliver product out of the Van Buren port.

“The ports serve about 17 states on a daily basis, and that’s something a lot of people around here probably don’t think about or know about,” Shell said. “It shows the diversity of the facilities, of what the ports do. It’s not just about serving Fort Smith or Northwest Arkansas.”