Little Rock port, Arkansas River navigation issues noted

story by Steve Brawner, for Talk Business
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Paul Latture, executive director of the Little Rock Port Authority, is pointing out the industries occupying some of the authority’s 2,640 acres as he travels aboard the barge “Ted Cook” as it floats along the Arkansas River. From east to west are manufacturers producing roofing granules and then fertilizer, followed by a barge dock where waste oil is deposited and a huge silo filled with dry cement.

“We really run the gamut from processing rice to peanut butter to pipe to windmill blades. If our site and our infrastructure meets the company’s needs, then we’re in the play,” he said.

The port has been less in play lately because it’s out of space – down to one 150-acre site and one covering 22 acres. But a one-cent sales tax hike passed by Little Rock voters in September will mean an additional $10 million over 10 years, and by using that money to leverage bonds, Latture hopes to begin adding and developing 1,000 acres starting in 2012.

Latture, who earlier addressed about 100 attendees of the Arkansas Regional Waterways Conference aboard the barge, estimates it would take a couple of years to develop the sites before they can be filled. Prospects don’t just want space – they want the infrastructure that will enable them to get up and running as soon as possible.

“You need available sites, and right now we’ve only got two, and they’ll be gone hopefully soon,” he said. “We show them all the time.”

While the rest of the national economy has been sputtering, the port has been thriving. It is home to more than 40 companies and employs 4,000 people. Almost half a billion dollars has been invested there since around 2006-07. Latture says business is picking up and industries are looking for space.

“I say jokingly it’s the best recession we ever had because last year, 2010, we set a record for volume and therefore in revenue,” Latture said. “(The year) 2011, due to the river closure, we’re a little bit below last year, but we’re almost catching up to last year. We may well beat last year, so we’ve had two or three great years largely because of the new companies that we’ve brought in.”

BEYOND THE PORT’S BOUNDARIES
Ultimately, however, the port depends upon the state’s river system itself.

On Latture’s wish list is dredging a 12-foot channel on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System through Oklahoma and Arkansas – a project that would make barges capable of carrying 43% more cargo without using much more fuel. The Arkansas River is already 13.5 feet deep in most places, but there are spots, including three in Arkansas at Little Rock and Pine Bluff covering a total of maybe about 10 miles, where it is only nine feet deep.

That makes the Arkansas River a less viable option competing with the country’s only 12-foot channels – the Ohio River and the lower Mississippi. A 12-foot dredging project has been authorized, but not funded. It would cost $177 million.

That’s going to be hard to do, because according to Col. Glen Masset, Little Rock district commander for the Corps of Engineers, the district is facing a 20% budget cut for FY2012, with river projects cut by 8% from $43.3 million to $39.8 million.

Massett said the district has used supplemental flooding funding as well as stimulus money in the past few years to reduce a lot of risk, but throughout the district there remains a backlog of $68 million in critical work, defined as having a 50 percent chance of failure in five years if not performed.

A looming problem is the “three rivers area” in southeast Arkansas where the Arkansas, Mississippi and White rivers converge. The water is threatening to escape its channels in places, and if it did, the Arkansas would become unnavigable. Massett said he needs $10 million for a band-aid fix and probably $30 million to do it right.

“It has my attention,” he said. “In fact, in that area, if we lose that pool, we estimate it would take us a year to fix, and one-third of that year, navigation would not be made available to industry, which would cost industry about $30 million a day every time the system is closed.”