One of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce's top initiatives heading into this year was to determine the viability of a multimodal port facility in Cole County.
An ad-hoc group of chamber members developed a framework for a feasibility study to determine whether an intermodal/multimodal Port Authority could be established to serve as an economic development and job-creating catalyst in Central Missouri as well as statewide. The feasibility study would address whether the port would be financially and functionally viable.
"We believe there is a need for an intermodal river port in Central Missouri since there is only one Port Authority, currently inactive, between St. Louis and Kansas City on the Missouri River," Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen said. "The hope is the study could be accomplished concurrently with the statewide study by MoDOT to determine the economic benefit of the entire Missouri and Mississippi River ports. We believe there will be a renaissance of ports because they can provide cheaper transportation of goods, they are environmentally friendly and can take trucks off of highways reducing congestion and wear and tear on roads."
At Tuesday's Cole County Commission meeting, chamber officials said the study would evaluate the initial cost of capital improvements for docking facilities and offloading infrastructure, rail spur modifications, and road and highway improvements, as well as the ongoing operating cost and potential revenue sources from use of the port.
Also included in the evaluation will be potential opportunities for business development and growth in Mid-Missouri and who would benefit by use of, or increased use of, container shipping of raw materials via multimodal transportation.
More specifically, it would assess the potential for domestic or international traffic, predict gross county or regional product growth rates, and determine the extent to which the completed $5.4 billion Panama Canal expansion project could enhance cargo shipping from the Missouri and Mississippi basins with its new capacity.
It is anticipated Jefferson City, Cole County and Callaway County would partner to develop the Port Authority, which could be located adjacent to the Missouri National Guard Ike Skelton Training Facility on the Missouri River near the Chamber of Commerce's industrial park. Guard officials said they would be interested in a port that would allow them to move equipment and materials easily.
Callaway County is offering another potential site, located on the river toward Hartsburg, near current baseball fields, with access from U.S. 50/63.
The chamber is asking $47,600 from each of these government entities to help fund the study.
Commissioners gave no indication Tuesday of whether they would be willing to fund the proposal. Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman said he saw benefits of having a port, in particular for farmers who could get their products to market faster and more economically by water than by road.
Allen plans to make a similar presentations to the Jefferson City Finance Committee on Thursday as well as the Callaway County Commission.