Containers of cargo from around the world may be unloaded in Herculaneum as early as 2024, which could help alleviate the supply-chain problems that have plagued both businesses and consumers since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Herculaneum and Memphis have been identified as prime sites for ports for specialized barges that will carry large metal shipping containers from Plaquemines, La., up the Mississippi River, said Sal Litrico, chief executive officer of American Patriot Holdings, which plans to operate several of the barges.
“We’re introducing a new transportation system. Our new north-south route is different from the traditional east-west system that has been in place for so many years. This should help the supply chain issues that we’ve all been hearing about,” Litrico said at a Dec. 17 press conference at the Herculaneum Fire Department announcing that a container-on-vessel port will be developed in Herculaneum.
“Our expectation is that Herculaneum will come online in the fourth quarter of that year,” he said.
Litrico said ports in Memphis should begin accepting cargo from its vessels early in 2024.
The port of Plaquemines, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, is being developed as the destination for ocean-going ships traveling through the Panama Canal to unload their cargo onto APH’s vessels.
Hawtex Development Corp., based in Texas and Hawaii, has been working with APH and will be the lead developer of the port in Herculaneum.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon was standing in front of a firetruck when he talked about APH’s vessels.
“This is a very big, very nice firetruck,” he said. “Imagine 2,000 firetrucks on one vessel. It’s hard for me to express how much this will mean for Jefferson County.”
APH’s vessels are designed so the containers are above the hull, rather than below the hull like on traditional barges, reducing loading and unloading time.
Litrico, said the company will soon award bids to build four of those vessels, with an option to build four more.
Riverview Commerce Park, a subsidiary of Fred Weber Inc., has been operating a port in Herculaneum since 2013 on former Doe Run Co. property.
Derrick Good, president of the Port Authority’s Board of Directors, said minimal work will be needed to prepare the Herculaneum site for the specialized barges to unload there.
“There’s not much construction work to do,” he said. “They will be able to start unloading containers with the infrastructure that’s already there.”
However, he and Litrico said that as the port business increases, improvements could be made at the Herculaneum site.
“It’s also not impossible that (ports in) Pevely and Crystal City may come into play down the line,” Good said.
James Hurley, president of Hawtex, said Herculaneum is an attractive site for many reasons, including access to highways, rail and, in St. Louis, air travel.
“It’s also a fact that Doe Run has 300 acres of land here that can be reformulated. Some of it could be used for container storage, but other buildings perhaps can be used as warehousing and manufacturing facilities that want to locate near the port.”
Chris Neaville, asset development director for Doe Run, said it’s yet to be determined whether the company will rent or lease its land and buildings or will sell it.
“We have a number of buildings that can be used, including administration and medical buildings,” he said.
Neaville said the Herculaneum plant is no longer producing lead and that employees still working there are maintaining the buildings.
Mark Denton, vice president of Riverview Commerce and Fred Weber, said he doesn’t know how many employees might be put to work once container vessels start docking in Herculaneum.
“There’s an economic impact study going on now,” he said. “But I can tell you it will be substantial when you factor in construction jobs and related service jobs that will be generated.”
Herculaneum City Administrator Jim Kasten said he is “super excited” about the prospects the port will bring not only to his city, but to the region.
“This goes back 12 or 13 years, when Doe Run announced that they would be shutting down,” he said. “We were wondering what would happen to their buildings and the port. But the Port Authority and the County Council got on board, and it took the effort of a lot of people to make this happen.”