Posted on January 26, 2017
By Larry Levy, Tulsa Business
The Tulsa Port of Catoosa awarded a contract with a dredging company to remove silt build up in the channel, clearing it to a 12-foot depth.
A contract of slightly more than $1 million was awarded to Illinois-based Mid-America Dredging by the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority at its January meeting.
The work is to start by March 1 and be finished in 105 days or the company must pay a penalty of $800 per day, port operations manager Brad Banks told the authority. Five others firms bid on the project, which had an estimated cost of $1.7 million.
The board OK’d monthly claims of $845,284 for payment. Secretary/treasurer Bryant J. Coffman said the port would recover 10 percent of that amount through grants or contractual obligations.
In other business, the board accepted the independent audit presented by Vanessa Dutton of Eide Bailly LLP for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The accounting firm said the port’s assets totaled $58.23 million compared with $53.69 million a year earlier.
Leases were the biggest source of port revenue at $3.86 million, up from $3.77 million, followed by railroad services at $1 million, which was down from $1.6 million a year earlier.
Other operating revenues were railroad switching, $602,423; barge and towboat, $409,254; stevedoring, $304,186; liquid bulk, $275,165; dry bulk, $188,637; agricultural, $186,122; low water wharf, $55,908, and general cargo, $10,219.
All except dry bulk produced less revenue than a year earlier.
Operating expenses were depreciation, $2.99 million; personnel, $1.13 million; operations, $1.59 million, and general and administrative, $467,172.
The 2.26 million tons of cargo moving through the port on 1,274 barges during 2016 brought the total tonnage since the first barge on Jan. 21, 1971 just shy of 80 million tons.
Robert W. Portiss, in his last authority meeting before retiring as port director, said that the 79.98 million tons on 48,708 barges was “absolutely phenomenal.”
More cargo moved through the port in 2016 than in 2015 when the total was 1.55 million tons and 939 barges. December traffic amounted to 243,260 tons on 11 barges compared with 147,723 tons and 87 barges a year earlier. Outbound traffic totaled 205,316 tons requiring 108 barges while inbound cargo came to 37,944 tons on 25 barges.
Source: Tulsa Business
