The Port of Catoosa has reached a milestone, welcoming its 50,000th barge on Tuesday.
The vessel comes from Osceola, Arkansas.
"If you were to open this barge, you'd see coil steel's in there, 1,500 tons of raw, coil steel that's going to go to Steel and Pipe Supply later today, will be cut to length and sent out to manufacturing facilities not just in Tulsa, but in neighboring states as well," said Port Director David Yarbrough.
Some of the steel will go to the Whirlpool plant in Owasso. Plant leader Paul Rushing said more than 80 percent of Whirlpool’s appliances in the U.S. market are made here.
"Having low-cost transportation is critical to Whirlpool's commitment to manufacturing in the United States, because we are now competing in a global market and with global competitors," Rushing said.
Rogers County Commissioner Ron Burrows said each barge to come into the Port of Catoosa represents what would have been about 60 truckloads of freight.
"When you consider that 50,000 barges represents 3 million truckloads, which takes that pressure off our roads and bridges," Burrows said. "We all know the current condition of them."
The port’s first shipment came in January 1971, and it handled almost 87,000 tons of cargo that year. Now, it handles around 2.5 million tons a year.
