Mount Vernon Shatters Tonnage Record

At the end of last year

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The Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon is reporting the highest quarterly volume for any port in Ports of Indiana history. The facility handled nearly 2.5 million tons of cargo during the fourth quarter of 2016, fueled in large part by surging coal shipments.

The total shattered the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon’s previous quarterly record. The 2.5 million ton measure is a 44 percent increase over its previous record, set in 2014.

In all, the port handled 6.4 million tons of cargo in 2016, up 34 percent from its previous five-year average. It’s the port’s second-highest annual tonnage total, behind the 2015 record of 6.6 million tons.

The port also marked the expansions of two companies last year. In October, Louisiana-based Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. announced plans to invest more than $31 million into expanding its soybean processing operation in a move that includes a small number of new jobs. Meantime, Valero Renewable Fuels Co., a subsidiary of Texas-based Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), completed a multi-million dollar project involving around 60 new jobs.