Ports of Indiana officials announced that its Jeffersonville facility had recorded the highest quarterly shipments in its 30-year history during the first quarter.
Cargo volume exceeded 800,000 tons, an increase of 10 percent from the previous record set in the first quarter of 2014. Grain shipments remained steady while steel cargoes more than doubled and fertilizer shipments jumped nearly 30 percent from the same quarter in 2014.
Port officials pointed to a 70 percent increase in potash, a component in fertilizers, for boosting volumes.
“The strong start to 2015 is testimony to this port’s connection to international markets and the diverse portfolio of companies which are leaders in their respective business categories,” said Scott Stewart, the ports’ director.
The Jeff port focuses on steel to serve the automotive and appliance industries, and officials credited the boost in volume to the addition of Mill Steel Co. and its new flat-rolled service center’s start-up in June 2014 to the three other steel processors.
Longtime port steel processors Voss Clark, Steel Dynamics and Metals USA also invested in their respective facilities last year to accelerate line speeds and increase capabilities.
The port, upriver from Jeffersonville near Utica, has 28 companies and provides year-round barge service to more than 20 states, with rail service and vessels running to the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes.
