Port Shores Up Tenn.’s Cargo Handling Capacity
Published Apr 08, 2002
The Cates Landing riverport will significantly increase northwest Tennessee’s position as a cargo transportation center.
In the northwest corner of Tennessee, there’s an important 1.5-mile stretch of land along the banks of the Mississippi River called Cates Landing. Located near Tiptonville in Lake County, it’s the future site of a major riverport that will bring new jobs and big business to Lake, Dyer and Obion counties.
Among the many advantages of the future port’s location are its position above the flood plain, which ensures uninterrupted year-round operation, and its proximity to a short-line railroad, located just two miles away. Once operational, the port will be ideal for an on-barge container service. A large local market exists for such a service, with 530,000 tons of potential shipping cargo within a 30-mile radius of the site.
“The port, coupled with I-69, will put us in position to become a distribution center,” says Jimmy Williamson, chairman of the Northwest Tennessee Regional Port Authority. “We’ll have an intermodal, intercontinental transit system, including rail, water and truck transport.”
Although it’s still in the design phase, the port is expected to have enough infrastructure in place to begin receiving freight within the next two years. According to Williamson, the port authority plans to build a 1,000-acre industrial park at Cates Landing over the next 10 years. The projected economic impact of the park is $100,000 of private-industry capital investments per acre.
“When the port is fully developed, we anticipate more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs from the port activity,” he says. “It will benefit not just northwest Tennessee, but all of Tennessee, as well as the surrounding area, such as Missouri and Kentucky.”
Story by Erica Steakley
Photo by Centex Engineering & Construction
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