Outbound shipping by barge dipped in April as fewer agricultural products left the Tulsa Port of Catoosa due to depleting inventories.

Shipments of soy products leaving the Port were lower by approximately 38,000 tons as the shipping season for that commodity ended. In addition, some liquid bulk products saw more traffic leaving by truck or rail in April as demand for more rapid delivery (prompted by weather delays in transportation earlier in the season) took that cargo away from barges.

Total inbound/outbound shipping from the Port on the waterway was 158,882 tons, moved into and out of the facility on 103 barges. The figure was lower than in March (212,671). Inbound totals were slightly higher, at 78,683, compared with last month. However, the outbound shipping total was 80,199, lower than the March figure by more than 55,000 tons.

The Port passed a noteworthy milestone this month: Since the Port began operating in 1971, 40,000 barges have traveled into and out of the facility.

In the first four months of 2010, 805,452 tons of cargo shipped through the Port, higher than the same time frame in 2003, 2004 and 2005 — all considered relatively strong years for the economy.

“There are always seasonal variations in the amount of products coming into or leaving the Port, and there are many factors that need to be taken into account when we release these numbers,” said Ed Fariss, chairman of the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority.

Fariss said those factors accounted for the slower month in barge shipping at the Port, but overall business was stable.

“We continue to see more activity at our low-water wharf, as well as positive trends in the shipping of such commodities as refined petroleum and asphalt,” Fariss said.

Of the 1.06 million tons of cargo shipped along the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System in April, 15 percent traveled through the Port. Oklahoma’s share of the total barge cargo volume on the waterway was 336,700 tons, with 47 percent of that figure shipped into or out of the Port.

Since the Port opened in 1971, more than 64.7 million tons of cargo have moved through the facility on 40,032 barges.

The Port of Catoosa is the head of navigation for the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The 445-mile long waterway links Oklahoma and the surrounding five-state area with ports on the 25,000-mile-long U.S. inland waterway system and foreign and domestic ports beyond by way of New Orleans.

The 2,500-acre port complex offers industrial sites for lease, and its Riverview Business Park, adjacent to the port, offers property for sale. Together they are home to more than 60 companies employing nearly 3,000 employees.