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Tenn-Tom Waterway Offers Benefits to Automotive Companies
 With the South taking its stance as automotive manufacturing’s hotbed, it seems the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was built for such a time as this.
Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama joined forces to construct the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in the 1970-1980s. The Waterway realizes the dream for a connecting navigation link between the eastern Gulf of Mexico and mid-America and it paid off in February when Toyota announced that it chose a 1,700-acre site in Blue Springs, Miss. to build its eighth North American vehicle assembly plant.
Located just outside of Tupelo, the new $1.3 billion plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 vehicles annually of Toyota's popular Highlander sport utility vehicle. Production is scheduled to begin by 2010. The plant is expected to create approximately 2,000 new jobs for the region and indirectly create work for many more. Operations at the plant will include stamping, body weld, plastics, paint, and assembly.
“Any automotive manufacturer or supplier that has access to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway can ship to and from 14 states,” says Tenn-Tom Waterway consultant Don Waldon. “Barge transportation is by far the most economical and environmentally friendly means of transportation. This network of waterways offers tremendous cost savings opportunities for the auto industry and many other industries.”
Consider the statistics: The Tenn-Tom can save waterborne commerce as much as 800 miles in distance traveled between mid-America and deep water ports along the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Cutting travel time cuts costs. Shippers float about 10 million tons of commerce up and down the waterway each year, for a savings of about $90 million in shipping costs. In fact, a recent study by Marshall University found that shippers with access to a fully developed multi-modal transportation network can reduce shipping costs by as much as 25 percent compared to shippers with more limited transport options.
For all of these reasons, the Tenn-Tom Waterway has become a vital component of the nation’s transportation system. But the story gets better. The Tenn-Tom also offers reliability. When a summer drought closed the Mississippi River to barge traffic in 1988, the Tenn-Tom provided a viable alternative route to the Mississippi and for nearly two months kept plants in the Ohio Valley and Midwestern states supplied with essential raw materials needed for continued operation.
The Tenn-Tom serves a full range of public ports and terminals throughout the region. Many of these terminals can also provide intermodal services, warehousing, bagging and other special needs. Deepwater ports in Mobile, New Orleans, Panama City, Pensacola, Gulfport, and Pascagoula are served by the Tenn-Tom.
The Tenn-Tom also serves some 40 prime waterfront industrial sites in the 54-county, four-state region. These sites are ideal locations for auto manufacturers that need intermodal transportation. The Tenn-Tom has attracted $6 billion of new and expanded industrial development since 1988. Last year alone, about $1 billion of new industrial investments were attracted to the region by cheap barge transportation, including the $880 million Severcorr steel mill near Columbus, Miss. The plant expected to be in operation this summer will produce high quality steel for the automotive industry. Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, Kerr McGee, Nucor and IPSCO Steel are among the companies that have located or expanded in the waterway region.
Parcels exceeding 500 acres are still available for development, with no known environmental or other impediments to slow construction. Most of the site’s property is above the 100-year flood plain and offers access to rail and highway transportation. The Tenn-Tom is also strategically positioned to serve increased trade with Latin America and other foreign markets.
“Southern states are certainly competitive when it comes to incentives, a strong labor force and amenities,” Waldon says. “But in addition to all those advantages, this four-state region is also blessed with the Tenn-Tom Waterway and all the benefits it has to offer.”
For more information about the Tenn-Tom Waterway, contact the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority at 662.328.3286, e-mail ttw@tenntom.org or visit www.tenntom.org.
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