CORBA Signs MOU With Port Of South Louisiana

The Central Ohio River Business Association will work together with the Port of South Louisiana (Port SL) as part of a memorandum of understanding signed at CORBA’s winter meeting February 22.

The meeting also included the presentation of CORBA’s Friend of the River Award to Jack Weiss, newly retired president of Cincinnati Bulk Terminals.

Before the formal signing the MOU, Ted Knight, senior adviser for commercial operations at Port SL, gave a presentation, noting that there may be opportunities for the port to work with CORBA and its members toward mutual goals. Those could potentially involve working with different cargoes, including aluminums and non-ferrous metals, he said.

Knight outlined the port’s operations for CORBA members, noting that top trading partners for exports include China, Japan, Colombia, Mexico and the Netherlands and, for imports, Jamaica, Brazil, China, Peru and Mexico.

The port’s Globalplex wharf is owned by the port but leased to Associated Terminals and does mostly bulk business but also some in breakbulk cargo. Another major tenant is Baumer Foods Inc., which was established in New Orleans in 1923 and relocated to the port’s property in Reserve, La., in 2006.

The Port of South Louisiana includes its own executive regional airport, with about 7,000 flights a year. Additionally, it operates the 2,000-square-foot Maritime Security Operations Center, a command and control center with state-of-the-art communications and surveillance systems as well as security and firefighting vessels.

Port SL priorities include developing a $600 million state-of-the-art grain elevator in Greenfield, La., that is anticipated to increase exports by 10 percent and provide 200 jobs for the surrounding community. It is also working closely with ADM on $22 million in modifications, including a landside dust system to reduce dust emissions, Knight said.

It is upgrading its infrastructure, extending its runway from 5,100 feet to 6,500 feet to accommodate larger planes and widening and improving surrounding highways, including Interstate 310, U.S. 90 and the I-10/Louisiana 637 exchange, he said.

Additionally, Knight said the port is working on plans for a first of its kind in the U.S. refueling station for low-carbon emission, hydrogen-based, methanol-fueled vessels. Port SL is also continuing the process of procuring the Avondale Global Gateway facility, he said.

Coast Guard Update

Lt. John White, who has supervised U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Cincinnati since July, gave an overview of the MSD and its duties, which include commercial vessel inspections, marine casualty investigations, waterways management and regulated facility inspections.

“This waterway is incredibly important,” White said. “There are a lot of people who know that and a lot of people who want to make sure it stays safe because it needs to stay open.”

MSD Cincinnati has seven active-duty personnel and about 200 auxiliarists who support them in various ways, he said. It covers 59 counties and 250 miles of waterway, including the Ohio, Miami and Licking rivers in southeast Indiana, southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

Its fleet of responsibility includes 60 towboats of more than 26 feet that are homeported in the region, 17 passenger vessels, two repair yards, 28 Coast Guard-regulated facilities, five public-access facilities and five red-flag fleeting areas.

In a typical year, White said, MSD Cincinnati conducts 27 marine casualty investigations and nine pollution responses and conducts 74 inspections.

Following White’s presentation, Bob Welch spoke about the roles of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, the uniformed volunteer component of the Coast Guard. The organization provides 4.5 million hours of service to the Coast Guard every year throughout the country, he said.

Upcoming Events

CORBA Executive Director Eric Thomas announced CORBA’s annual golf outing April 15 and the Clean Waters Conference coming to Cincinnati April 9-11. He also told members to save the dates for upcoming membership meetings June 20 and October 24 with more details to come later.

Thomas also presented the chairman’s award to past chairman Doug Ruschman. Beginning this year, Errin Howard, who directs the Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals’ program “We Work The Waterways,” is CORBA’s new chairperson.

Robyn Bankroft, strategic initiatives manager for the Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) also noted that companies are being contacted to update their entries in the regional Central Ohio River Information System (CORIS), an app detailing infrastructure along the central Ohio River. CORIS is a collaboration between OKI and CORBA, which surveyed all 142 public and private dock terminals in the region.

Friend Of The River Award

Scott James, vice president of business development for Cincinnati Bulk Terminals, presented CORBA’s Friend of the River Award to Weiss, who had served as the company’s president for 32 years before retiring February 1.

“Jack led the terminal in a transition from an industrial coal sales powerhouse to a world class terminal serving manufacturers, farmers, builders and many more customers in the Midwest,” James said. “CBT has handled products from all over the world. Jack engineered the needed changes at CBT, led by the construction of a fertilizer warehouse and the construction of a conveyor over Mehring Way to connect the river to rail, and positioned CBT well going forward by planning additional warehouse expansion.”

Weiss started his career at what was then Hatfield Terminals in 1978 in the scale house before moving to several other roles before being named president of Cincinnati Bulk Terminals in 1992.

James said the company has become an economic engine for the Ports of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

“Very conservative estimates show that in Jack’s 32-year career as president, he oversaw an organization that handled millions of tons and conservatively generated $250 million, but more likely a half a billion dollars in revenue,” James said. “Few people can say that, while doing it safely with employees that he considers to be friends.”

Caption for top photo: CORBA Executive Director Eric Thomas (right) and Ted Knight, senior adviser for commercial operations for the Port of South Louisiana, shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). (Photo by Shelley Byrne)