TULSA: Waterway shipping through the Tulsa Port of Catoosa was 146,687 tons during the month of April, the Port reported Thursday.
The tonnage measure is down nearly 12 percent compared to the 166,007 tons shipped through the Port during the previous month of March and down 33 percent compared to the 219,238 tons shipped through the Port during April 2014.
According to the Port, declines are due to decreased volumes of fertilizer leaving the Port as a result of facility update projects.
To help increase waterway shipping activity, the Port hosted a Project Cargo Workshop May 4-5. The workshop was designed to provide regional manufacturers with the tools and information they need to transport over-dimensional cargo via road, rail, and water. The workshop had more than fifty participants and a dozen corporate sponsors.
Similar events are being planned for the future.
“We want to make it easier for our regional manufacturers to get their project cargo from Point A to Point B — whether they utilize the waterway or not, ” said David Page, Chairman of the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority.
“The Project Cargo Workshop was a successful part of our continued efforts toward those goals.”
Despite decreases in total tonnage, the Port did realize an increase in shipping activity across its low water wharf/roll on-roll off facility in April.
Nicknamed RoRo, the low water wharf has no weight restrictions and is suitable for any cargo heavier than 200 tons.
Examples of cargo suitable for RoRo include refinery equipment, heavy wall vessels, industrial heating machinery, and large vehicles.
April’s increase in cargo that moved via the roll on roll off facility is attributable to Barnhart Crane & Rigging coordinating the loading of eight convection modules, each weighing in at 266,000 lbs.
The modules, manufactured by Express Metal Fabricators in Big Cabin, Ok., were destined for the Dow Chemical facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Those shipments contributed to more than 1,000 tons of cargo being handled at the Port’s RoRo facility in April, the highest monthly total through that facility so far in 2015.
