ConAgra International Fertilizer Co. purchased Interstate Marine Terminals Inc. (IMT), Boonville, Mo., at auction on June 6. The terminal is located at Mile 196.5 on the Missouri River and includes 41 acres of land, 12,000 st of dry storage, 5 million gallons of UAN storage, and a liquid animal feed plant.
ConAgra picked up the terminal and 33 acres for $675,000 and added another adjoining nine acres for $27,500, for a total of $702,500. Sources say this is far below replacement costs.
ConAgra has been leasing the facility for the past year. It had previously been leased by Royster-Clark Inc. prior to its purchase by Agrium Inc. ConAgra has stocked the facility with UAN, potash, DAP, and ammonium nitrate. The facility is reportedly the only such facility with a Coast Guard-approved plan for unloading ammonium nitrate barges on the Missouri River.
Ammonium nitrate is a big deal in Missouri. It leads the 50 states in AN consumption at 172,662 st for the fertilizer year ending June 30, 2006, though this is off significantly from the prior year’s 245,459 st according to Commercial Fertilizer 2006, a publication of The Fertilizer Institute and the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials. U.S.-wide, AN consumption was 963,710 st in FY06, versus 1.42 million st/y in FY05.
The IMT facility has a strategic proximity to the 9 foot deep river channel, Interstate Highway 70, and the Union Pacific Railway. At its peak, IMT reportedly moved up to 100,000 st/y of products, including non-fertilizer products, through the terminal.
IMT did not flood in the 1995 flood, the second largest in history. More of a problem is the long-standing clash between upriver reservoir interests, environmentalists, and barge transportation over water levels on the river. A short barging season and the failure of the Corps of Engineers to commit to an 8 foot draft have caused some barge companies to leave the river (GM June 6, 2005).