Transportation and Distribution

New Port Spurs Economic Growth
New facility will open up opportunities in Northwest Tennessee

Col. Charles O. Smithers III, Congressman John Tanner, Gov. Bredesen and ECD Commissioner Kisber broke ground on the Port of Cates Landing in October 2006. The $20 million project includes an intermodal river port and a 3,000-acre industrial park.

With the Port of Cates Landing on the horizon in Northwest Tennessee, the state will have another key component to add to its strong, vital transportation system.

The massive port project, targeted for completion in 2008, will not only open up multiple transportation options in the area, but has enormous potential for economic development in Lake, Obion and Dyer counties for years to come.

“I think it’s going to be a huge plus,” says Kingsley Brock, Administrator of Business Development for the state Department of Economic & Community Development. “It’s hard to say exactly what the effect will be. But any time you have a project of that magnitude go into an area that’s off the beaten path … it’s going to have a huge economic impact.”

The $20 million intermodal river port project includes a 9,000-linear foot slack-water harbor on the Mississippi River in Lake County and more than 3,000 adjacent acres for an industrial park. The port will be accessible to barge traffic year-round.

Also on the drawing board are plans to link the port from State Route 22 to U.S. Highway 78 in Tiptonville following upgrades to the state highway. Other upgrades to local roads are also planned. The port will also be accessible by short-line railroad to the Canadian National Railroad, some 30 miles away.

Jimmy Williamson, chairman of the Northwest Tennessee Regional Port Authority and president and CEO of the Dyersburg Electric System, has been part of the effort to get the Cates Landing project off the ground for nearly a decade. He says cooperation between government entities has been gratifying.

“When you are working with so many state and federal agencies, there are so many rules you have to follow and sometimes they conflict with each other. But everybody we’ve worked with on this project has been very helpful.

“We think the port will help the economy of all the communities within a 50- to 60-mile radius,” he adds. “And, it will help our existing industry. It’s a huge potential, no matter what kind of business you’re in, to be successful economically.”

U.S. Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., another longtime advocate for the Port of Cates Landing, agrees. At the groundbreaking in October 2006, he called the project, “the biggest economic development project we’ve seen in Northwest Tennessee in my lifetime.”

Story by Anne Gillem
Photo by Phil Cicero

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