Economic Impact Study (PDF) - Owensboro Riverport Authority

The Economic Importance of the 

Owensboro Riverport 

Its History, Performance, and Industrial Linkages 

a research report for 

The Owensboro Riverport Authority 

by 

Paul Coomes, Ph.D. 

Professor of Economics, and 

National City Research Fellow 

and 

Margaret Maginnis and Barry Kornstein 

Research Associates 

June 2005 

University of Louisville

T Indiana 

he Owensboro Riverport was founded in the mid-1970s by a 

group of visionary community leaders. They recognized that the 

river is a special and permanent asset for Owensboro, and that 

industrial river traffic was already quite heavy. They also recognized the 

city’s geographic advantage in the coming growth of grain, fertilizer, 

steel, and aluminum businesses. Their goal was to help Owensboro 

anchor and benefit from that growth by providing a critical piece of 

transportation and logistics infrastructure. Starting with some grants and 

a modest City investment, they acquired land that had recently become 

available, and built the initial configuration – a dock, an unloading facility 

and a 32,000 square foot warehouse on a few of the property’s 400 acres. 

Today, the facility is ten times larger and activity dwarfs that of twentyfive 

years ago. 

In this report we pull together historical information on the Riverport, 

organize more general data on important linked industries, and explain 

its importance to the Owensboro regional economy. This is a story of a 

strategic piece of public infrastructure, positioned to send, accept and 

store bulky commodities used pervasively in farming, automobile 

manufacturing, construction materials, and consumer goods. It is part of 

the logistics and distribution network for hundreds of farmers and 

dozens of manufacturing operations in the region, several of worldwide 

reach. 

The Riverport, as currently configured, is composed of a two-tiered 

flood wall, eight mooring dolphins, four pile cells, tug/fleeting service, 

two 110-ton cranes for barge loading and unloading, 500,000 square feet 

of modern warehouse space, a CSX main rail line with four spurs, a 

650,000 bushel grain storage facility, 75 acres of compacted rock for 

outdoor storage, two climate controlled pods to store up to 14,000 tons 

of fertilizer, and an office with state of the art inventory management 

systems. There are 45 employees, with jobs ranging from forklift 

operator to mechanic to inventory manager. The Riverport moved over 

1 million tons of cargo last year. 

rail line 

warehouses 

Dart Polymer 

fertilizer pods 

barge loading 

and unloading 

One’s first impression on a tour of the Riverport is its idyllic view of 

downtown Owensboro just several miles to the east - the long lazy curve 

of the river, the riverfront park, and the surrounding forest canopy 

create a flattering view of the city. Looking out on the river, one typically 

sees a set of barges, a tugboat or two, and some recreational boat traffic. 

The Riverport’s large cranes can load or unload a barge in one workshift. 

Fields of aluminum slabs and t-bars are organized and stacked in long 

rows, almost like houses along streets, and are carefully marked by both 

the manufacturer and by the Riverport’s inventory managers. A majority 

of the inventory is eligible for either the New York Mercantile Exchange 

or the London Metal Exchange, and must be tracked. Paper pulp arrives 

from Canada by rail, is moved to one of the warehouses, and is picked 

up on a daily basis by Kimberly Clark truckers. As the trucks pick up 

pulp they deliver pallets of paper towel products that are then stored at 

the Riverport before final delivery to customers.

$70 

$60 

$50 

$40 

$30 

$20 

$10 

$0 

$59.61 

Aluminum Shipping Cost per Ton 

New Orleans to Owensboro, March 2005 

$33.81 

Much of the economic story is related to the cost advantage that water 

transportation has over alternatives such as rail and truck. For inland 

transportation of nonperishable and bulky commodities, barges have no 

equal. Consider aluminum. Price quotes from major truck, rail, and barge 

shippers show that the water mode is nearly one-third the cost of rail, 

and one-fifth that of truck. The price difference is caused both by the 

energy and labor efficiency differences of the modes, but also by the 

great differences in volume typically hauled at once. A barge will carry 

1,500 tons of aluminum, rail 75 tons, and a truck only 22 tons. The 

Riverport helps local industries take advantage of this great cost 

difference, and make them more competitive in their respective markets. 

The state, federal, and city governments invested about $10 million 

in the Riverport facility during its first twenty years. Since then, 

there has been no public subsidy. Over the last twenty years, the 

Riverport Authority has plowed back a large portion of its revenues into 

improved facilities and equipment, investing another $20 million of self- 

$12.66 

Truck Rail Barge 

generated funds. And in the last few years the Riverport has been 

returning $150,000 annually to the City government general fund. 

The chart shows the full history of public investments in the Riverport. 

Between 1976 and 1996, the City of Owensboro contributed $2.6 million 

in bond payments and about $400,000 in operating subsidies. The City 

bonds were paid off five years before maturity. The federal government, 

including the Army Corps of Engineers, has contributed $2.5 million, 

and the State of Kentucky has contributed $4.3 million. Federal and state 

investments were primarily in the form of grants for land acquisition, 

building costs, infrastructure development and equipment purchases. 

$3,500,000 

$3,000,000 

$2,500,000 

$2,000,000 

$1,500,000 

$1,000,000 

$500,000 

$0 

Public Investments in the Owensboro Riverport 

First Twenty Years 

City bond payments and subsidies 

State government grants 

Federal government grants 

1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Since opening in 1976, the Riverport has greatly expanded its capacity. It 

has added four warehouses, and now has over ten times the storage 

capacity as it did in 1976. Moreover, the newest warehouse was paid for 

completely out of self-generated revenues. Though no comparable 

published data exist, we believe Owensboro now has the greatest amount 

of public warehouse space along the rivers between Louisville and 

Memphis. 

square feet 

500,000 

450,000 

400,000 

350,000 

300,000 

250,000 

200,000 

150,000 

100,000 

50,000 

0 

1976 

1978 

1980 

1982 

Warehouse Capacity, 1976 to Present 


1984 

1986 

1988 

A majority of the warehouse space is now used to store incoming pulp 

and outgoing paper products manufactured by the Kimberly Clark plant 

near Stanley. The company made a decision when it built the plant to not 

construct its own warehouse facility. Given the huge scale of paper 

products to be stored, this created an opportunity for Owensboro area 

entrepreneurs. When no one stepped forward, Owensboro Riverport 

constructed the large new warehouse. 

1990 

1992 

1994 

1996 

1998 

2000 

2002 

2004 

H 

ow and why do Owensboro area businesses, workers, and 

taxpayers benefit from the Riverport? This is a more 

complicated and interesting question than, say, what is the 

regional economic impact of the Ragu tomato processing plant. Whereas 

a particular firm has easily quantifiable impacts through its employment, 

vendors and tax payments, operations like Riverport impact their 

communities in more subtle but pervasive ways. It is useful to think of 

the Riverport much in the same way as one thinks about a major 

highway or an airport. It is not their direct employment that matters 

most. What matters is their ability to support commerce, which then in 

turn generates employment and income. 

Certainly the private sector is capable of providing infrastructure as well. 

Indeed, most warehouse space and logistics operations are located onsite 

at major manufacturers. Owensboro Grain is perhaps the largest 

handler of soybeans and corn in the state. Electric utilities routinely 

unload and store coal. Yet, until the Riverport was built, there was no 

place in the region that could load, unload, and store large volumes of 

heterogeneous commodities. This is of tremendous value to firms that 

need to move between water, rail, and truck transportation, and which 

for good business reasons might not want to themselves invest in the 

loading and storage facilities. Much as the private sector provides the 

airplanes and passengers that use public airports, firms around the world 

provide the barges, trucks, rail cars and commodities that use public 

ports, such as the Riverport. 

The public infrastructure that supports commerce along the Ohio River 

in western Kentucky needs to be customized to the particular strengths 

and opportunities of the area. We consider several of these here, and 

explain the Riverport’s place in the regional value chain. We start with 

the sector probably most familiar to Daviess County residents, 

agriculture.

Topographically, Owensboro is part of the Great Interior 

Plains of the US, a vast area that extends from Western 

Kentucky and Tennessee north to Canada and west to the 

Rocky Mountains. Because of its relatively flat terrain and the rich 

nutrients of the soil, this area contains some of the best soil for 

agriculture anywhere in the country. From a more local perspective, 

the Owensboro area is part of the Western Coalfield region of 

Kentucky, bounded to the north by the Ohio River, and to the 

south, east, and west by the Western Sandstone of the Pennyroyal. 

Originally part of the Eastern Interior Coalfields of the US, the 

East St. Louis 

# # # 

# 

Cahokia # 

St. Clair 

W 

Corn Production 

71,500 - 2,691,000 bushels 

2,691,001 - 6,523,200 bushels 

6,523,201 - 12,168,000 bushels 

N 

S 

E 

# 

Centralia 

# 

Herrin 

# 

# 

Carbondale 

# 

Mount Vernon 

# 

Paducah 

# 

Murray 

# 

# 

Vincennes Washington 

# Evansville 

# 

Henderson 

# ÊÚ 

# 

Madisonville 

# 

Hopkinsville 

# 

Jasper 

Fort Campbell 

# 

70 0 70 Miles 

Corn Production by County, 2003 

# 

Bedford 

Owensboro 

# 

Bowling Green 

Western Kentucky Coalfield 

was cut off from the larger 

region when the Ohio River 

was formed at the end of the 

last ice age. At that time, 

melting glaciers flattened land 

in southern Indiana while 

millennia of floods did the 

same for much of western 

Kentucky, creating the broad 

alluvial plains that extend south 

and west beyond Owensboro. 

Today, the Ohio River serves as 

one part of a major river 

transportation system linking the eastern US and Midwest to 

southern states and the Gulf of Mexico. Within this network, the 

area encompassing western Kentucky, southern Illinois and Indiana, 

is an important center for both agriculture and mining. 

The city of Owensboro itself is located among low hills and 

bottomlands on a large southward bend in the Ohio River, amidst 

some of the richest farmland in Kentucky. A humid continental 

climate, wide flat expanses of land, and rich alluvial soils make this 

an excellent region for growing soybeans, corn, wheat, hay, and 

tobacco and indeed this area has been a traditional leader in grain 

production for the state. 

One can see from the maps how production in Kentucky is 

concentrated in the counties around and to the west of Owensboro, 

and how Indiana and Illinois production concentrates in the south 

and west, particularly along the Wabash River basin. This 

concentration of corn and soybean production means that there is a 

perennial need to get fertilizer into the region and grain out to 

customers. There is no more inexpensive form of transportation than

arge, and hence there is great regional demand for loading, 

unloading, and storing agricultural products along the river. The 

Owensboro Riverport serves farm operations over a 75 to 100 mile 

radius. Nearly 200,000 tons of fertilizer were brought in by barge and 

rail to Riverport last year, where it was then trucked out to farm 

supply operations around the region. Over 100,000 tons of grain are 

loaded on barges each year at Riverport. 

Unlike most of Kentucky, farming continues to be an 

important source of income in the Owensboro 

region. Agriculture generated over $100 million in net 

income for farmers in Daviess and McLean counties 

in 2001, and farm workers earned about $7 million in 

wages and salaries. This was ten percent of the 

Kentucky state total. Certainly, the Riverport is one 

important factor keeping transportation costs down 

for area farmers, helping them stay competitive in the 

international grain markets. For example, the 

Riverport in the last year has shipped grain products 

to the United Kingdom, Israel, Brazil, Korea and 

Japan. Major shippers of corn at Riverport include 

Owensboro Grain Company, Scouler Grain, Inter- 

Grain and Louis Dreyfus. Fertilizer customers include 

Southern States Cooperative, Dyno-Nobel, Miles 

Enterprises, and Nelson Brothers, LLC. 

East St. Louis 

# # Fairview # Heights 

# O'Fallon 

Cahokia # 

Belleville 

W 

N 

S 

E 

Mississippi 

# Centralia 

# 

Cape Girardeau 

# 

Sikeston 

# Mount Vernon 

# 

Herrin 

# 

# 

Carbondale 

Marion 

Little 

Wabash River 

# 

Paducah 

# 

Murray 

Wabash 

River 

White 

River 

# 

# 

Vincennes Washington 

White River 

Evansville 

# 

# 

Henderson 

200 0 200 Miles 

ÊÚ 

# 

Madisonville 

# 

Hopkinsville 

Soybean Production by County, 2003 

# 

Jasper 

East Fork 

White River 


# 

Fort Campbell North 

# 

Clarksville 

# 

Springfield 

Green River 

Ohio 

# 

Bowling Green 

Soybean production 

192,000 - 1,347,00 bu 

1,347,901 - 2,763,600 bu 

2,763,601 - 5,101,800 bu

T 

he Riverport is also a major storage and distribution site for 

paper products. Incoming pulp, primarily from Canada, 

Alabama, and Washington, is unloaded from rail cars, stored, and 

is picked up by truck for delivery to paper manufacturers. The 

Kimberly-Clark plant near Stanley uses Riverport as its primary 

warehouse for finished paper products. On a given day, Riverport may 

have as many as 1,000,000 cases of paper towels, Kleenex and toilet 

paper on pallets in its new 300,000 square foot warehouse. These are 

trucked in daily from the Kimberly-Clark plant, and trucked out on 

demand to major customers around the United States. 

(X St. Charles 

W 

(X 

(X Peoria 

(X 

(X 

Rockford 

(X 

(X 

Elgin Chicago 

(X 

Aurora (X (X Naperville 

(X (X 

(X Hammond 

Joliet 

(X Decatur 

(X Springfield 

St. Louis 

N 

S 

E 

(X Champaign 

(X 

Terre Haute 

Evansville 

(X 

(X ÊÚ 

(X South Bend 

(X 

(X 

Clarksville 

(X 

Bloomington 

(X 

(X 

Fort Wayne 

(X Muncie 

(X Anderson 

Indianapolis 

(X 


Nashville 

Louisville 

(X 

Toledo 

(X 

(X 

(X (X 

(X (X 

(X 

(X Columbus 


(X Dayton 

(X 

Kettering 

(X Hamilton 

200 0 200 Miles 

(X 

Cincinnati 

(X 

Lexington 

Employment at Paper Mfg. Plants, 2001 

(X 

(X 

(X 

Akron 

(X Canton 

(X 

Youngstown 

(X Charleston 

Huntington 

Employment in Paper Manufacturing 

Knoxville Less than 100 

100-499 

500-999 

More than 1,000 

The map shows the distribution of employment at paper 

manufacturing plants in Kentucky and bordering states. Note the 

clear tendency for paper operations to locate along major rivers. They 

seek to take advantage of the inexpensive bulk transportation 

available by barge, and also the well-established rail connections 

located along the Ohio River valley.

The Riverport is also a major handler of metals, including scrap, 

finished steel, and aluminum. These products are highly linked 

with the automobile, truck and parts manufacturing firms that 

have clustered along a north-south corridor between Michigan and 

Alabama. There are hundreds of such firms within a 200 mile radius of 

Owensboro. Riverport handled 48,000 tons of steel and 440,000 tons 

of aluminum in 2004. The metals arrive by barge and rail, and are 

shipped out by barge, rail and truck. Most of the aluminum leaves by 

truck, for example, to the Logan Aluminum plant near Russellville, one 

hundred miles to the south, where it is turned into sheet products for 

buildings, automotive components, and food can stock. 

W 

N 

S 

#S 

#S 

Sikeston #S 

E 

#S 

Chicago 

#S 

#S 

Toledo 

#S 

Hammond #S Gary 

#S 

#S 

Joliet 

Valparaiso 

Fostoria #S #S Tiffin 

#S 

Findlay 

#S 

Effingham 

#S 

Carbondale 

#S 

Henderson 

#S 

Paducah 

Peru #S Wabash 

#S 

#S 

#S 

Richmond 

#S 

Columbia #S 

Shelbyville 

#S 

Tullahoma #S 

#S 

#S #S 

Lawrenceburg 

#S 

#S 

Lima 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S Lafayette 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

#S 

Kokomo 

Peoria 

Bloomington 

Champaign 

Bellefontaine 

Sidney 

Newark 

Piqua 

Troy 

Columbus 

Huber Heights 

Dayton 

Indianapolis 

Shelbyville 

Middletown 

Terre Haute 

Cincinnati 

St. Louis 

Evansville 

#S 

#S 

Jackson 

#S ÊÚ 

#S 

Clarksville 

Nashville 

#S 

#S 


Louisville 

Bowling Green 

#S 

#S 

Murfreesboro 

#S 

Lexington 

Knoxville #S 

#S Maryville 

#S 

#S 

#S Euclid 

Cleveland Heights 

#S 

#S 

Amherst Parma 

#S Cuyahoga #S Falls 

Youngstown 

#S Akron 

#S 

Canton 

#S #S 

Johnson City 

Elizabethton 

200 0 200 Miles 

Employment at Aluminum Companies, 2001 

#S 

Fairmont 

#S #S 

Marietta Clarksburg 

#S 

#S Charleston 

Huntington 

Employment in Aluminum Industry 

Less than 100 

100-249 

250-499 

More than 500 

Aluminum is perhaps 

the most interesting and 

important of the metals 

handled at Riverport. 

Few Owensboro 

residents likely know 

that on most days their 

home town contains the 

largest stock of publicly 

traded aluminum bars in 

the United States. On a 

recent day, there 

were 140,000 

pieces stored on site, with a total market value of $185 million. 

Riverport is the only site in the US to handle aluminum for both 

the New York Mercantile Exchange and the London Metal 

Exchange. The stored aluminum may have been made in the US, 

Russia, Canada, Brazil or South Africa. It is traded as a 

commodity on NYMEX or LME, with the ultimate buyers 

representing auto manufacturing, aircraft, construction, beverage 

can, and wiring industries. Owensboro is a natural site for large 

scale aluminum storage, because of the Riverport’s barge loading 

and unloading facilities, its indoor and outdoor storage capacity, 

and because its location is so close to the center of the key users 

of aluminum. 

The aluminum industry is very important to the Owensboro 

regional economy. There are major aluminum plants at Hawesville, 

Lewisport, Sebree and Evansville, with many aluminum fabricating 

operations in Henderson. Indeed, these aluminum plants have 

long been a source of some of the highest paying jobs for 

Owensboro residents. According to the 2000 Census, 1,545 

Daviess County residents commuted to Hancock County to work, 

664 commuted to Vanderburgh County, 660 to Spencer County,

447 to Henderson County, and 419 to Warrick County. These were 

the top five destinations for Daviess County out-commuters, and the 

counties are all dominated by metal and auto-related manufacturing 

operations. Indeed about one half of the $240 million in industrial 

payrolls in Hancock County are earned by workers who reside in 

another county, especially Daviess County. 

About 36 percent of all aluminum production and processing in 

United States occurs in Kentucky and adjacent states. As is evident 

from the map, much of that activity is clustered along the Ohio 

River. Major aluminum customers using Riverport include Aleris 

(formerly Commonwealth Aluminum), Logan Aluminum, Alcan, 

Alcoa, Century, Hydro Aluminum, and General Motors. 

Steel is also an 

important industry 

that uses Riverport. 

Both scrap and 

rolled steel are 

moved through the 

facility. The map 

shows the 

distribution of iron 

and steel foundries 

around the Midwest 

and Kentucky. 

Firms are clearly clusters along the major rivers and near large 

urban areas – Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 

Major steel customers using Riverport include AK Steel, Adelphia 

Metals, Dahl and Groezinger, Stemcor, Lockwood International, 

and Tri-State Metals. The foundries are attracted to locations along 

large rivers, in order to take advantage of the lower shipping costs of 

barge and rail, and inexpensive electricity typically available. 

the 

The aluminum and steel companies are of course also attracted by the 

regional concentration of auto-related manufacturing plants. It is well 

known that the auto industry has moved south from its Michigan base 

along Interstates 65 and 75 towards Alabama and Georgia. Kentucky has 

been a major winner in this movement, particularly in the central 

bluegrass region and around Bowling Green. 

(X 

(X 

(X 

(X (X (X (X 

(X (X(X Chicago 

(X (X (X 

Oak (X (X Lawn 

(X 

Gary 

(X 

(X 

South Bend 

(X 

Fort Wayne 

(X 

Toledo 

(X 

(X (X (X 

(X 

(X 

(X 

Lorain 

Elyria Parma 

(X 

(X 

Youngstown 

Akron 

(X 

Canton 

(X 

Pittsburgh 

(X 

Peoria 

(X 

Muncie 

(X 

Anderson 

(X 

Champaign 

(X 

(X 

Indianapolis 

(X Decatur 

Springfield 

(X 

Terre Haute 

(X 

Bloomington 

(X 

Columbus 

(X 

Springfield 

(X 

(X Dayton 

Kettering 

(X 

Hamilton 

(X 

Cincinnati 

St. Charles 

(X 

Charleston 

(X 

(X 

Huntington 

(X 

St. Louis 

(X 

Louisville (X 

Lexington 

Evansville 

(X 

(X 

W 

N 

S 

E 

ÊÚ 

(X 

Clarksville 

Nashville (X 


(X 

(X 

Knoxville 

200 0 200 Miles 

Employment at Foundry Plants, 2001 

Employment in Foundries 

Less than 100 

100-499 

500-999 

More than 1000 

(X

The next two maps provide a satellite view of the geographic distribution 

of auto-related manufacturing activity in Kentucky and bordering states. 

The first is for motor vehicle assembly plants. These are typically 

anchors for many parts plants in their areas, and all of these are potential 

consumers of the aluminum and steel products made around the region. 

The dark red splotches indicate major plants. The Georgetown KY 

Toyota plant, the Ford plants in Louisville, and the Toyota truck plant 

above Evansville are all clearly indicated. To the south, one can see the 

employment range for the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, the Nissan 

truck plant in Murfreesboro, and the GM Saturn plant below Nashville. 

Note that, except for the Evansville-area facility, all of the assembly 

plants are along the I-65 or I-75 corridors. This allows for quick 

Charles 

W 

N 

S 

(X 

E 

Rockford (X 

(X 

(X 

(X 

Elgin (X 

## (X 

(X (X 

Aurora 

Nape rville 

(X # (X # 

(X Gary 

Joliet 

(X 

# Peoria 

# 

Normal 

(X 

(X # Decatur 

Springfield 

St. Louis 

Chicago 

(X 

Champaign 

# (X 

South Bend 

# 

Lafayette 

(X # 

(X 

Terre Haute 

# Columbus 

(X 

Bloom ington 

Evansville 

(X 

(X ÊÚ 


(X # 

Fort Wayne 

# 

Bowling Green 

# 

Hopkinsville 

Clarksville 

(X # Springfield 

(X # 

Nashville 

# 

Columbia 

(X Muncie 

(X 

Ander son 

Indianapolis 

200 0 200 Miles 

(X Euclid 

(X Toledo 

(X # 

(X 

Lorain Cleveland Heights 

(X 

(X 

(X # 

(X Cleveland 

Parma # Warren 

(X 

# 

Elyria 

Bowling Green 

(X Youngstown 

Akron 

(X # Columbus 

(X # 

Springfield 

# (X 

(X Dayton 

# 

(X # Louisville (X # Lexington 

Georgetown 

# 

Murfreesboro 

(X 

(X 

Cincinnati 

# 

# 

Chillicothe 

Portsmouth 

# 

(X 

Canton 

# 

# (X # 

(X 

Ashlan d Huntington 

(X Knoxville 

Charleston 

Employment in Auto Manufacturing 

Less than 100 

100-499 

500-999 


# 

P 

shipment of finished cars and trucks to all the major consumer markets, 

particularly those east of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, the exact center 

of the US population east of the Rockies just passed through Lexington 

KY, and is moving along a southwestern line. Putting auto assembly 

plants along that vector is the best way to minimize transportation costs, 

and this is the primary reason this region has attracted so many plants 

the last two decades. 

Parts plants are typically smaller and more ubiquitous. The second map 

shows the distribution of employment at motor vehicle parts plants in 

Kentucky and bordering states. One can see the north-south pattern 

along and between the primary interstate corridors – from Michigan 

olumbia 

(X 

St. Charles 

(X 

(X 

Rockford 

(X 

X( 

Peoria 

(X 

Aurora (X (X 

Hammond(X 

(X 

(X 

Joliet 

(X Decatur 


St. Louis 

(X 

(X 

(X 

Chicago 

Gary 

(X Champaign 

(X 

Terre Haute 

Evansville 

(X 

(X ÊÚ 

(X South Bend 

(X 

Fort Wayne 

(X 

(X Muncie 

(X Anderson 

(X 

Bloomington 

(X Clarksville 

(X 

Indianapolis 


(X Louisville 

Nashville 

(X Toledo 

(X Columbus 


(X Dayton 

(X 

Kettering 

(X Hamilton 

200 0 200 Miles 

(X 

(X 

Cincinnati 

(X 

Lexington 

(X 

Chattanooga 

(X 

(X 

(X (X 

(X 

(X 

(X 

(X Akron 

(X Youngstown 

Knoxville 

(X 

(X Canton 

(X Charleston 

Huntington 

Employment in Auto Parts Manufacturing 

Less than 100 

100-499 

500-999 


Employment at Motor Vehicle Mfg. Plants, 2001 Employment at Motor Vehicle Parts Mfg. Plants, 2001 

W 

N 

S 

E 

(X

through Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville, and through Columbus, 

Cincinnati, Lexington, and Knoxville. The southern portion of this 

automobile alley has been the fastest growing in the industry 

nationwide. Kentucky was a major winner during the past fifteen years, 

as especially the Japanese manufacturers looked for greenfield sites in 

smaller communities, in the center of the population, and below 

historically unionized markets to the north. 

Other important Riverport customers include Dart Polymers, Quality 

Containment, Hausner Hard Chrome, and Hendrick Screen Company. 

Dart is located adjacent to the Riverport terminal and utilizes a pipeline 

to unload styrene from barges to make Styrofoam pellets for packaging. 

T 

he Owensboro economy and the City government now receive 

annual dividends on its past investments. The Riverport has 

been financially self-supporting since 1996, and directly 

contributes City $150,000 each year to the City’s general fund. 

Revenues earned from loading and storage at the Riverport are used to 

pay the salaries of its employees. 

These are dollars earned from selling 

a service to firms around the 

world and hence can be considered ‘new’ to the Owensboro economy. 

That is, unlike local grocery stores and doctors’ offices which simply 

absorb residents’ dollars in return for a service, the Riverport is a 

generator of dollars for the local economy. The wages and salaries of its 

employees create new purchasing power, which translates in new 

homes, car sales, and all the other retail items offered in Owensboro’s 

shops. 

Riverport 

employees also pay local occupational and property taxes to 

the City and County governments, tax revenues that would not be 

available without the Riverport activity. In 2003, Riverport had on 

average 45 employees with a total payroll of $1.3 million. The payroll 

generated about $4,000 in occupational taxes to the City of 

Owensboro. Assuming an average home value of $125,000, and a 

typical residential location pattern, we can estimate that their property 

tax payments to City, County and the public schools are about $45,000 

annually. 

The box lists some of the 

major local vendors who sell 

goods and services to the 

Riverport. These companies 

receive part of their 

revenues due to Riverport 

activity, and thus a portion 

of their employment, 

payrolls, and induced retail 

spending is due to the 

logistics activity there. 

The next box lists some of 

the major customers of 

Riverport. These regional 

and international companies 

use Riverport for bringing in 

fertilizer, steel, aluminum 

and other commodities, or 

to ship out grain, aluminum 

and other commodities to 

markets around the world. 

Note that the list includes 

many industrial powerhouse 

names, as well as less-known 

but dominant companies in 

the metals, grain, and 

logistics businesses. 

Major Local Vendors 

Alphatec 

Applied Industrial Technologies 

Builders Discount Lumber 

Cintas Corp. 

Commonwealth Storage 

Emmick Oil 

General Rubber & Plastics 

Gipe Automotive 

Greenwell Chisholm 

Junior Janatorial Services 

K&W Equipment 

May Electric 

Miles LP Gas 

NES Rentals 

Ohio Valley 2 Way Radio 

Owensboro Harbor Service 

Owensboro Manufacturing 

PeopleMark 

Quality Oil 

Sterett Crane 

T&T Forklift Repair 

Tire Mart 

Trophy House 

Yager Materials 

Yeiser's Warehouse Co.

Conclusion 

The Owensboro Riverport is a major economic asset to the region. It 

provides the infrastructure for inexpensive shipping and storage of 

heavy commodities produced and used by industries within a 100-mile 

and greater radius. The operation provides a cost advantage to many 

regional companies, allowing them to be competitive internationally, 

and thus provide high paying jobs. For example, over the last dozen 

years the Riverport has handled 1.8 million tons of aluminum. If the 

Riverport operations served to save aluminum customers but one 

penny per pound on freight, these companies gained a $36 million 

advantage in freight costs. Aluminum and aluminum-using companies, 

flourishing in the area due partly to this transportation cost 

advantage, provide among the best paying jobs in the region. 

There 

are some firms that can attribute their business viability to 

Riverport. For example, a manufacturer of steel reinforcement bars in 

southern Kentucky is able to purchase bulk steel through Riverport at 

such a cost savings that the company has built a major business selling 

to construction job sites over a 200-mile radius. 

Hopefully, 

this report will help shine the light on one of Owensboro’s 

strategic economic advantages. 

for more information contact 

Owensboro Riverport Authority 

P.O. Box 21955, Owensboro, KY 43404-1955 

Toll free: (877) 599-7929 or direct (270) 926-4238 

Regional 

Major Customers 


International 

AK Steel ABN Amro 

Aleris Adelphia Metals 

Century Aluminum AIG Clearing Corp. 

Dahl & Groezinger Alcan 

Dart Polymers Alcoa 

Hagan & Stone BHP Billiton 

Kimberly Clark Calyon Financial 

Logan Aluminum David J. Joseph Company 

Miles Enterprises Dyno Nobel 

Nelson Brothers Fimat Futures 

Ohio Valley Aluminum General Motors 

Owensboro Grain Glencore 

Southern States Hunter Douglas 

Weyerhaeuser InterGrain 

Koch Supply and Trading 

Mitsubishi 

Prudential Securities 

Sempra Metals USA 

Stemcor 

The Scoular Company

Economic Impact Study (PDF) - Owensboro Riverport Authority

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