The Port of Little Rock saw near normal activity in September. There was a total of 294 railcars switched and invoiced for the month. The train crew blocked a total of 398 cars for BNSF. The Port had an additional 168 cars in storage. The Port's stevedore, LSI, unloaded/loaded 15 railcars. Miscellaneous switching included 73 railcars being removed from storage tracks and delivered to customers to be unloaded.
The Port worked 26 barges that held nearly 38,000 net tons of various commodities including aluminum ingots and sows, nepheline syenite, petroleum coke, pre-painted galvalume coils, rock, and sand, wetcake and wire rod coils. Warehouse and terminal operations continue to remain busy. Packaging operations were strong and look to remain that way. Empty barge availability for outbound loadings is an ongoing issue. LSI expects to see a decrease in the available supply of barges for the near future.
Closure of the David D. Terry Lock due to maintenance halted barge traffic into the 2nd week of September, affecting operations. Year-to-date, the Port’s docks have worked 265 barges, down seven percent year-over-year. Commodity tonnage is down nine percent with 395,000 net tons of cargo handled YTD. Remarking on the tonnage, Executive Director Bryan Day noted that “steel coil activity, which is typically more than 50% of overall activity, is off by 47% with 71 fewer barges and 109,000 fewer tons handled compared to this time last year.” Day added that “the Port’s docks have begun closing the tonnage gap with a 25% growth in non-steel coil tonnage compared to last year.”
“We expect a significant jump in rail activity in October,” said Bryan Day. “I continue to be impressed with our partners’ and industries’ abilities to adapt and grow.”
