Trade group plan would turn Memphis into a seaport for container ships on Mississippi River

A Louisiana group has proposed putting ships on the Mississippi River and making Memphis a seaport.

Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District on Thursday announced a letter of intent to explore building special container ships that would call regularly on the Port of Memphis.

Barges pushed by towboats currently move on the river at Memphis but not ocean-going ships, which are barred by the low bridges just upriver from New Orleans.

American Patriot Holdings, a company involved in the deal, said it has bought the design for a fleet of innovative ships able to navigate the river.

One design, for a 595-foot-long vessel, would be capable of moving upstream at speeds up to 13 mph and carrying up to 2,375 ocean-going cargo containers. Towboats are able to handle barges laden with about 48 ocean-going containers.

If the project does proceed, container ships calling on Memphis would establish the city as a seaport and in turn promise some imports railed from the coasts to instead move by ship directly into Memphis.

"This could be a game changer for the river," said Randy Richardson, Port of Memphis executive director. "This could bring the Gulf (of Mexico) all the way up the Mississippi River. There's the possibility of bringing a considerable amount of freight up the river to Memphis where you have access to a considerable number of markets."

In Memphis, the city-county EDGE Board and the Port of Memphis are waiting to see whether American Patriot and Plaquemines Port Harbor move ahead on the project. A terminal able to load and unload the ships' cargo containers would have to be built.

The site being considered for the terminal includes the former Allen Fossil Fuel Steam Plant property fronting McKellar Lake Harbor, an inlet on the river adjoining the Presidents Island industrial park.

The 499-acre Allen site is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal energy utility. The TVA property and a 422-acre tract of open land next to it would be needed to accommodate the terminal, Richardson said.  The open tract is owned by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, a public utility. Talks have not begun to secure the properties for a terminal.

Charles Vance, spokesman for the EDGE economic development agency, said the Louisiana group is presently in the early stages of determining the project's financial feasibility. If the project goes ahead, EDGE would probably ask for bids from developers interested in building the ship terminal.

In the announcement, Miami-based American Patriot said its ships would rely on "patented no-wake bow and exoskeleton structure, along with LNG propulsion" and be able to "reduce shipper transportation costs and improve reliability as they could potentially service inland container centers in around St. Louis, Jefferson City, Little Rock, Memphis, Joliet, Kansas City, Cairo and Western Arkansas."

Freight moving on the river consists primarily of bulk cargo such as grain, fertilizer, coal and chemicals loaded into barges without use of the metal shipping containers. Towboats push the barges. Most other freight in America is packed into the metal containers. Much of that freight moves by train to intermodal terminals where the containers are offloaded onto trucks for final delivery. Greater Memphis contains more than 60 truck lines, five major railroads and a fleet of intermodal terminals.

American Patriot aims to haul bulk cargo now shipped aboard barges. The Miami firm said it bought licensing agreements for patented designs by Canadian naval architect Naviform Consulting and Research Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The new river ships would take on freight containers at various ports on the Mississippi and its big tributaries and take the cargo downriver to Plaquemines Port Harbor, which proposes building a 1,000-acre freight terminal on the river about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

The terminal would take the containers off American Patriot vessels and reload them aboard larger container ships bound for foreign ports. The project's supporters say this promises less expense for exporters and could reduce truck congestion on the highways. Bulk cargo such as corn can get loaded into containers that are hauled by trucks to seaports.

Container ships bringing imports destined for U.S. customers could come into  Plaquemines and off load the containers onto American's Patriot's fleet for delivery to Memphis and other upriver ports.

Richardson said the Port of Memphis could benefit because the new ships might be able to operate at a low enough cost to rival the railroads. While the Louisiana group has positioned its proposal as good for exporters, Richardson contends importers also could benefit. American's Patriot vessels could draw freight now railed inland from U.S. ports.

"What we're talking about is a shift to inbound traffic," Richardson said, adding this in turn could bring Memphis more factories and distribution centers.

Large vessels have been rare on the river at Memphis since barges displaced the steamboats decades ago. American Patriot locked into a design for a 595-foot-long ship able to pass under the bridges near New Orleans and enter shallow harbors like McKellar Lake while carrying heavy loads.

Designed like a broad and flat board, the ship puts the steering and living cabin close to the front. The cabin top is 48 feet over the water. The broad expanse behind the cabin would be 134 feet wide and hold the freight containers. Under full load, the vessel's bottom would be 10 feet below the river surface.

That would require dredging the barge passage into McKellar Lake, which is currently maintained for vessels drawing 9 feet of water, Richardson said.  As part of the terminal project, the developer would dredge the passage, he said.

American Patriot also has a design secured for a smaller vessel it calls a hybrid able to run up the Mississippi's tributaries and pass through dams and locks. The vessel would be 595 feet long, 100 feet wide, stand 42 feet over the water and carry 1,700 containers.

Plaquemines Port, an arm of local  government known as Plaquemines Parish, said Louisiana 23 Development Co. was selected in December as the "exclusive private development partner" for the terminal proposed in Louisiana.

Handing the developer the exclusivity stirred controversy in the region earlier in 2019 at Plaquemines Parish Council meetings. The deal allows Louisiana 23 chief executive Chis Fetters the right to sign up all lenders for the project as well as companies operating warehouses, natural gas storage facilities and similar port services.

According to a New Orleans news service, Nola.com, Plaquemines Port officials insisted the exclusive deal "was necessary to protect Fetters, who is not being paid by the port. Instead, he would negotiate his compensation with any firms who end up doing work."  

Louisiana 23 notes the project dates to the 2009 Plaquemines Port master plan, which sets up exclusivity as a "philosophy (that) allows for the creation of jobs, lease payments, and local tax revenues without the contribution of public tax dollars."