LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Due to historic flooding, a limited amount of dock activity was possible for the Port of Little Rock in June. By the second week of June, flood waters had returned to a level where most Union Pacific Subdivisions had resumed normal service. As the waters receded, LSI (the Port’s stevedoring partner) was able to work 14 barges. Barge traffic with limited tow size resumed to Little Rock with the first inbound tow arriving on June 25th,49 days after the last vessel call to the Port.
Rail tracks at the Port that had been under water were inspected and put back into service, with rail activity quickly returning to pre-flood levels—with the total number of rail cars switched and invoiced for the month of June was 767. 21,000 tons were worked across the docks during the June, and the Port has already had nearly 400,000 tons handled for the year and is within 9,000 tons of 2018’s record handling for the first six months. Despite the few barges worked in June, the Port is within six barges of last year’s record pace.
Dock repairs have been completed at the river terminal and activity has resumed on both docks. Shoaling at the mouth of the slackwater harbor has slowed operations; however, efforts to clear the channel began on July 1st with a barge mounted crane. Work stopped for the holiday; but resumed on July 8thand is expected to finish within a week. At that time, all operations should be back to normal. LSI anticipates having a busy month of barge activity in July as they work through a backlog of customer cargo.
Terminal activity saw over 70 railcars worked as some cargo was diverted to rail and outbound loadings remained strong. Terminal activities other than railcars were substantially slower but are returning to normal. LSI expects to continue to work a higher than normal number of railcars and still anticipates 2019 being a strong year for the Port in both barge calls and tonnage.
“We are thankful of the efforts of all involved to mitigate the economic damage caused by the record flooding event including those of our state leaders, congressional delegation, the Corps of Engineers, Pulaski County and the City of Little Rock,” said Bryan Day, executive director of the Little Rock Port Authority. Day continued, “through the tremendous efforts of our regional leadership and the ingenuity of our businesses, the Port of Little Rock remains the hub of 4,500 employees serving more than 40 businesses that create an annual economic impact of $500M.”
