STL Top 25 Port City - Not a PON Port However

I had no idea that STL was a top 25 port city until I read this Post on PoliPundit:

Top 25 Ports:

South Louisiana, LA
Houston, TX
New York, NY and NJ
Beaumont, TX
New Orleans, LA
Huntington, WV-KY-OH
Corpus Christi, TX
Long Beach, CA
Texas City, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Plaquemines, LA
Lake Charles, LA
Los Angeles, CA
Mobile, AL
Valdez, AK
Tampa, FL
Pittsburgh, PA
Baltimore, MD
Duluth-Superior, MN-WI
Philadelphia, PA
St. Louis, MO-IL
Pascagoula, MS
Norfolk Harbor, VA
Freeport, TX
Portland, ME


Given the current fire storm over the UAE purchasing Peninsular & Oriental Navigation, I'm sure many in STL will be happy to learn that PON does not have any leases in STL per the P&ON Website................


Although STL is currently in the top 25, it has been losing ground the past few years Commerce Magazine:

The Port of St. Louis is losing market share in a growing economy,” states a recent report of the St. Louis Inner City Competitive Assessment and Strategy Project. “While competing Mississippi River System ports have grown at an average annual rate of 3.1 percent, with some ports growing at rates as high as 6.6 percent, the St. Louis Port’s growth has been stagnant at a rate of 0.8 percent annually over the same 10-year period.”

What are the biggest products shipped into and out of the Port of St. Louis? Well per Commerce Magazine:

Of the different commodities that move through the port, 80 percent include products such as petroleum, coal, grain and chemicals. “By using the river for these heavy commodities we save moving it by truck and rail,” says Nichols. He says it is cheaper to move these commodities by the waterway system, since one barge usually holds 1,500 tons, equaling the capacity of about 60 trucks or 15 rail cars. And according to World Agriculture Forum Founder, President and Chairman of the Board Dr. Leonard Guarraia, “St. Louis is the largest inland water port for agricultural products in the world.”

Lots of corn and soy beans, and then gas, coal and chemicals....................................................