By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Barge traffic on the Missouri River has gotten a boost with a massive influx of federal funds to repair and upgrade navigation infrastructure damaged by the 2019 flood.
TransPort 360 CEO Aaron Khouri says the Missouri River isn’t really as notorious a waterway for barge traffic as some make it out to be.
“There’s this stigma that the Missouri River is unreliable,” Khouri tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “It’s not unreliable, it’s just challenging in the same way that other river segments are challenging.”
TransPort 360 operates the ports in St. Joseph and Kansas City, as well as other transportation options in the area.
Khouri says the $340 million in repairs to Missouri River infrastructure made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has made the river more reliable for navigation.
Khouri says the company plans to increase its capacity for grain shipments out of the St. Joseph port. The company would like to have storage reach approximately 75% of a full barge, which is 1,500 net tons.
“I think grain is going to be the key,” Khouri says. “It’s one of our primary areas of focus. There’s just a tremendous amount of production; demand on the fertilizer side in the region.”
Kouri says the company plans to increase its grain processing storage capacity in St. Joseph to store more soybean meal and DDGs for barge shipments.
The port also will be looking to haul bulk commodities, such as scrap metal.
“Those are a little bit, I would say, fewer and far between compared to the opportunities that we see on the agricultural side.”
Khouri says operating ports in both St. Joseph and Kansas City allows TransPort 360 to shave expenses by sharing resources.
“So as we become stronger in Kansas City, we’ll be stronger in St. Joe. Being able to, either between personnel or equipment, you name it, both have helped us be able to grow into the organization that we are now. So, without one or the other, you’re sort of limiting our ability,” according to Khouri. “Separate opportunities, but the opportunities that we see in Kansas City will help us be better at what we do in St. Joe.”
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