ACBL Reopens Western Terminal

In March 2021, American Commercial Barge Line’s Western Terminal, also known as the Hall Street facility, temporarily warm idled. Today, it is back up and transloading Powder River Basin coal from rail to barge.

ACBL’s Western Terminal operations went on a temporary warm idle as the company re-evaluated its strategic plan and looked for the right market opportunity to bring it back online.

“Resuming operations at Western Terminal was part of our overall strategic plan to provide broader supply chain services to our industry,” said Mike Ellis, ACBL CEO. “This is another example of better utilizing our assets to fulfill our mission of delivering innovative marine transportation solutions to our customers.  I can’t thank our team enough for their relentless efforts in getting this operation back up and running in a safe and efficient manner.”

One of the fastest rail-to-barge transloading operations in the country, Western Terminal is located just north of St. Louis on the right bank of the Mississippi River. The facility is the terminus of the preferred rail route connection from the Powder River Basin coal fields in Wyoming and Montana to the northernmost year-round, lock- and ice-free Mississippi River port.

“Western Terminal allows us to provide new and existing customers with rail to barge transloading services to meet their transportation needs,” said Bob Blocker, senior vice president of dry cargo for ACBL. “With plans to expand our operations, we are actively seeking other commodities to transport through Western Terminal, including petcoke, iron ore, grain products and other bulk commodities.”

Caption for photo: Rotating bucket heads load coal at ACBL’s Western Terminal in St. Louis, which has reopened and hopes to expand. (Photo courtesy of ACBL)