MISSISSIPPI
The State of Mississippi has more than 3 million
residents. Jackson, MS is the state capital and
largest population with 173,514 residents. The
State of Mississippi gets its name from the
Mississippi River which comes from the Ojibwe
Chippewa word misi‐ziibi meaning “great river or
gathering place.” The Mississippi River flows along
the state’s western border. The Mississippi River is
the fourth longest and tenth largest river in the
world.
Figure 1. Sunset on a tow and barge on the Mississippi
River
Gulfport‐Biloxi‐Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area
has a population of 411,066 residents along the Gulf
Coast creating the center for industrial activity in support of the offshore drilling activity in the Gulf of
Mexico. Trade/Transportation and Manufacturing sectors are the largest employment sector in the
State of Mississippi. Industrial and Transportation sectors also dominate the state’s energy use.
Due primarily to demand from electricity generators and the industrial sector, Mississippi’s per capita
natural gas consumption is high. To meet demand, Mississippi purchases more than one‐half of its
natural gas from neighboring States. Mississippi will soon begin importing international supplies, as two
liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals have been approved near Pascagoula, with one of those
terminals currently under construction. In January 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) chose a
group of salt domes in Richton, Mississippi, as a new storage site for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The new facility, with a capacity of 160 million barrels, is designed to cushion the effects of potential
crude oil supply disruptions. DOE chose this site in part because its inland location makes it less
vulnerable to hurricanes.
Hernando De Soto and his band of a thousand men crossed the State of Mississippi somewhere near
what is now the midpoint of the Tennessee‐Tombigbee Waterway (Lowndes‐Monroe Counties,
Mississippi area) in 1541 enroute from Florida to the Mississippi River. In the mid 1770s a waterway
connecting the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River was recommended to Louis XV of France.
Later, after American settlers also recognized the advantages of such a shortcut, residents of Knox
County, Tennessee approached Congress in 1810 with a proposal to connect the two rivers. The first
survey was made by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1827.
The waterways in Mississippi and Alabama provided conduits for new settlers and promoted the growth
of cities along the rivers for trade and access to plantations following the Revolutionary War. Keelboats,
then later paddlewheel steamboats navigated rivers like the Black Warrior, and Tombigbee Rivers in
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Alabama and the Mississippi River and Upper Tombigbee in Mississippi. From the early 1800′s to about
1910, paddle driven steamboats navigated the free flowing Tombigbee River carrying passengers and
goods as far north as Amory, Mississippi and returning with tottering stacks of cotton bales, logs and
other commodities. Many sank or were destroyed by boiler explosions and fires but it was the arrival of
the iron horse that brought the end to the steamboat era.
Mississippi contains portions of three historically important, navigable inland waterways: The
Mississippi River defines Mississippi’s western border, most of the 234 miles of the Tennessee‐
Tombigbee Waterway, and the entire Yazoo River. These waterways have acted as marine highways for
the greater inland waterway systems of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. They are vital to moving raw
materials such as coal and aggregates and finished steel products to and from Mississippi and its
neighbors.
In 2013, almost 50 million tons of commodities (mostly crude petroleum, petroleum products, and grains)
moved to, from, and within Mississippi. Crude petroleum made up 31% of this tonnage, followed by
petroleum products with 29% and grains at 10%.
Table 1
Mississippi 2013
Commodities Moved To, From and Within the State
(tons in thousands)
Shipped
Received
Within
Total
TOTAL
21,776.1
27,874.0
295.8
49,945.9
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics
RIVER TRAFFIC
The leading commodity moving on Mississippi River systems is grain (26%), petroleum products (18%)
and aggregates (16%). Of the Mississippi cargo, grains dominate the Mississippi River traffic making its
way to Louisiana to be milled while petroleum products dominate the river systems directly connected
to the GIWW.
Figure 2
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Docks in the state shipped almost 9.5 million tons, with grains being the largest commodity,
approximately 5 million tons, approximately 54% of shipped tonnage.
While this region of the U.S. typically consumes large amounts of coal for coal‐fired electricity,
Mississippi only ranks 19th in coal fired electricity production. Mississippi coal‐fired plants consumed 6.3
million tons in 2011, of which 2.7 million tons were supplied by a domestic Mississippi coal mine.
Mississippi’s other coal‐fired power plants are fueled by coal shipped primarily from Kentucky, and
Illinois. Almost 1 million tons utilized Mississippi’s waterways to meet the demand.
Petroleum products and aggregates rank second and third in tonnage volume rank second with almost
3.5 and almost 3.2 million, respectively. Predominately, the petroleum products traversing Mississippi’s
river systems are related to gulf coastal traffic. Shipments traversing the Yazoo River system and other
lower Mississippi river systems are connected to the gulf coastal activity (Table 4). Other Gulf of Mexico
states such as Texas, Florida and Louisiana consisted of the origins and destinations of the petroleum
products and grains traversing Mississippi River systems as shown in Table 5.
In 2013, 19.5 million tons shipped to, from and within Mississippi via inland waterways. Over 9.4 million
tons of commodities were shipped on the river system out of the state of Mississippi. A sizeable portion
of this tonnage (over 5 million tons) consisted of grains.
Table 2
Mississippi 2013 River Traffic
Commodities Moved To, From and Within the State
(tons in thousands; values in millions of dollars)
Commodity
Shipped
Received
Within
Total
Value
Coa l
**
1,368.4
**
1,420.9
$100
Petrol eum
1,706.6
1,668.2
102.4
3,477.2
$3,294
Crude Petrol eum
**
512.0
**
803.4
$489
Aggrega tes
**
3,112.4
**
3,166.9
$27
Gra i ns
5,086.7
**
**
5,165.4
$1,760
Chemi ca l s
**
1,390.1
**
2,483.6
$1,912
Ores /Mi nera l s
**
**
**
445.2
$150
I ron/Steel
**
727.1
**
1,090.4
$493
Others
867.9
645.3
30.1
1,543.3
$932
TOTAL
9,496.8
9,803.6
295.8
19,596.2
$9,156
**Insufficient barge operators to release this tonnage.
Commodity values are not calculated for foreign movements.
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics, 2012 NDSU
Commodity Valuation Analysis
COASTAL TRAFFIC
Mississippi coastal traffic is dominated by crude petroleum and petroleum products refined from crude
petroleum. The dominant coastal commodity is crude petroleum consisting of 49% of total traffic.
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Mississippi has three oil refineries which together account for about 2 percent of total U.S. refining
capacity ranking Mississippi 13th in petroleum production.
Figure 3
Mississippi’s largest refinery, located along the Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, processes crude oil imported by
marine tanker from Central and South America. The Pascagoula refinery operated by Chevron Corps
supplies fuel to meet regional demand in the south and southeast United States, using marine shipments
and connections to pipelines. The Chevron refinery has the capacity to process 330 thousand barrels of
crude oil per day. Exact tonnage for the three facilities is retracted due to sensitive business trade
secrets and practices. Over 18 million tons were either received from out of the state or moved within
the state. The facilities utilize the international market to import crude petroleum. As shown in Table 8,
foreign import of crude oil almost equals that of coastal crude petroleum traffic of 14.8 million
tons. Refined products include gasoline, distillate fuels, jet fuel, and residual fuels among a wide array of
products. Primary markets are the transportation and residential home heating sectors. A wide variety
of other commodities move into and out of Mississippi by water (Table 3).
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Table 3
Mississippi 2013 Coastal Traffic
Commodities Moved To, From and Within the State
(tons in thousands)
Commodity
Shipped
Received
Within
Total
Coa l
**
**
0.0
0.6
Petrol eum
10,514.9
450.0
0.0
10,964.9
Crude Petrol eum
0.0
14,898.0
0.0
14,898.0
Aggrega tes
0.1
103.5
0.0
103.6
Gra i ns
9.3
0.3
0.0
9.6
Chemi ca l s
**
1,560.0
**
2,267.3
Ores /Mi nera l s
6.2
170.5
0.0
176.7
I ron/Steel
8.5
2.5
0.0
11.0
Others
1,032.3
**
**
1,917.9
TOTAL
12,279.3
18,070.5
0.0
30,349.8
**Insufficient barge operators to release this tonnage
Commodity Values not calculated for Coastal movements.
Includes Foreign movements.
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics
STATE & OTHER TRADING PARTNERS
There were 157 manufacturing facilities, terminals, and docks in Mississippi that shipped and received
tonnage in 2013. Mississippi docks shipped commodities by barge to 16 other states, and received
commodities from 19 other states. The leading state shipped to was the neighboring state of Louisiana,
receiving more than 6.1 million tons of goods, mostly grains (77%). The leading state shipping by barge
to Mississippi was also Louisiana, which transported 2.7 million tons, mostly petroleum (36%).
Significant trade also occurred with other Gulf of Mexico states, mainly Florida and Texas. Petroleum
products moved between these states by way of the Gulf of Mexico and GIWW. With the close
proximity and easy mode of transportation barges traffic provides great economic opportunity for
Mississippi refineries to supply Florida’s tourism and recreation industries with highly demand
petroleum products such as gasoline and jet fuel.
Table 4
Mississippi 2013 Commodities
Shipped to and from Other States & Trading Partners
Shipments
Tons
Top Commodity
Shipments
To
(in thousands)
(% of Total)
From
Forei gn
8,338.4
Petrol eum (81%)
Forei gn
Loui s i a na
6,199.8
Gra i ns (77%)
Loui s i a na
Fl ori da
4,425.9
Petrol eum (93%)
Al a ba ma
Texa s
868.1
Petrol eum (62%)
Kentucky
Kentucky
694.6
Others (92%)
Mi ssouri
"Foreign" includes all overseas foregin countries, excluding Canada
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics
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Tons
(in thousands)
17,502.1
2,780.3
2,501.3
1,719.3
1,550.9
Top Commodity
(% of Total)
Crude Petrol eum (83%)
Petrol eum (36%)
Coa l (47%)
Aggrega tes (98%)
Aggrega tes (72%)
MAJOR PORTS
The major ports shown below are not necessarily point specific port locations, but are generally an
agglomeration of docks within a single municipality or collection of municipalities recognized by a state
or states for the purpose of being designated as a port. The tonnages below represent the section of
that port’s designation that resides within the State of Mississippi.
Pascagoula, MS – A new $1.1 billion liquefied natural gas import terminal opened in October 2011 in
Pascagoula. The facility has the capability to re‐gasify super‐cooled natural gas at a rate of up to 1.3
billion cubic feet per day; the natural gas is then sent by pipeline to users throughout the South. In 2011,
the Pascagoula oil refinery had the 10th largest refining capacity in the United States; it was able to
process 330 thousand barrels of crude oil per day. Pascagoula is home to Mississippi’s largest employer,
Ingalls Shipbuilding, owned by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.
Greenville, MS – Port of Greenville is a public port operated by Greenville Port commission which
specializes in dry bulk commodities, receipts of liquid fertilizer and shipments of grains. Port of
Greenville shipped and received more than 3.4 million tons in 2013 ranking 2nd in Mississippi ports and
10th of all inland ports in the U.S.
Vicksburg, MS – Port of Vicksburg is operated by Warren County Port Commission. The port primary
activities is sending and receiving barges of cotton, steel coils, aluminum and crude oil. Port of Vicksburg
is the 14th largest U.S. inland port by tonnage with more than 2.3 million tons.
Table 5
Mississippi 2013 ‐ Top 3 Ports
(tons in thousands)
Type
Port Tons
Total Port
Port Type
Rank
Within State
Tons
Pa s ca goul a , MS
Ri ver/Coa s ta l
6
32,427.9
32,427.9
Greenvill e, MS
Ri ver
10
3,474.2
3,474.2
Vi cks burg, MS
Ri ver
14
2,324.6
2,345.0
Tonnages represent only tons shipped or received in the state and port, and not necessarily the total
port tonnage.
Source: USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics
Port
LOCKS AND DAMS
The 8 navigation locks and dams in Mississippi all reside on the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway.
Tonnage levels across the locks and dams located on the Tenn‐Tom stay relatively balanced across
upbound and downbound traffic. The locks and dams also tend to be relatively consistent in total
tonnage traffic depicting the scenario of through traffic utilizing the system to continue to international
market in Mobile, AL or to continue from international market to the upper bounds of the Tenn‐Tom or
Ohio River system.
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Table 6
Mississippi 2013 Lock Tonnage
(tonnage in thousands)
Lock
Waterway
Upbound Downbound
John C Stenni s L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
3,114.7
2,755.1
Ja mi e Whi tten L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,899.6
2,627.6
Ful ton L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,688.5
2,651.1
Gl over Wilkins L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,698.9
2,637.5
John E Ra nki n L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,681.6
2,648.6
Aberdeen L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,626.4
2,702.8
G V Sonny Montgomery L&D Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,679.3
2,648.2
Amory L&D
Tenness ee‐Tombi gbee
2,637.1
2,670.5
Source: Lock Performance Monitoring System
Total
5,869.8
5,527.2
5,339.6
5,336.4
5,330.2
5,329.1
5,327.5
5,307.7
RIVER SYSTEMS
Bayou Casotte, MS waterway system, is the
largest Mississippi waterway in terms of
tonnage moving almost 32 million tons, serving
the Gulfport‐Biloxi‐Pascagoula CSA metropolitan
area. Signal international is a major employer,
shown below performing maintenance on oil rig
components, they also maintenances barges
and bulk vessels.
The portion of the Mississippi River in
Mississippi reports over 9 million tons shipped
and received on the waterway ranking them 2nd
largest of the Mississippi waterway. The
Mississippi River traffic from Mississippi mostly
consisted of grain being shipped to Louisiana to
be processed for final demand or consolidated for
international markets.
Figure 4. Offshore drilling platform in Bayou Casotte,
MS
The Tenn‐Tom waterway ranking 3rd, is the
newest of the Mississippi waterways.
Construction of the Tenn‐Tom Waterway was
started in 1972 and completed in 1985. The
waterway provides shallow draft boats and
barges operating in some 16,000 miles of other
navigable inland waterways with access to the
Gulf of Mexico at Mobile, Alabama. The
Tennessee‐Tombigee Waterway has three main
parts ‐ the largest section from Demopolis,
Figure 5. The Divide Cut on the Tennessee‐Tombigbee
Waterway
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Alabama north to Amory, Mississippi utilized the Tombigbee River but changes and shortens the existing
channel with dams, locks and shortcuts. From Amory a canal section using a chain of lakes extends to
the Jamie Witten Lock and Dam. The final section cuts deeply through high ground to the Tennessee
River. Its total length is 234 miles with the river section being 149 miles, canal section 46 miles and
divide cut section being 39 miles.
Table 7
Mississippi 2013 Top 5 Waterways
(tons in thousands; values in millions of dollars)
Waterway
Tons
Ba you Ca s otte, MS
31,890.0
Mi ssi ssi ppi Ri ver
9,069.1
Tenness ee Tombi gbee Wa terwa y
2,449.0
Gul fport, MS
2,105.3
Ya zoo Ri ver
1,513.6
Commodity Values not calculated for foreign/coastal movements.
Sources: USACE Waterborne Commerce Statistics, 2012 NDSU Commodity
$
$
$
$
$
Value
26,282
3,469
1,332
4,316
740
Valuation Analysis
WATERBORNE DOMESTIC & FOREIGN TRAFFIC
Mississippi foreign cargo is dominated by imports of crude petroleum at Bayou Casotte, MS petroleum
refineries. Refined petroleum products also constitute a significant portion of foreign exports.
Mississippi is relatively balanced across foreign and domestic traffic with 48% domestic and 52% foreign
cargo. The foreign cargo is slightly imbalanced with 35% of its cargo consisting of foreign imports of
which 82% were crude petroleum. The resulting trade balance is so that the State of Mississippi imports
raw crude petroleum, performs value added refinement, and then ships almost all of the products to
either other U.S. states or foreign markets.
Table 8
Mississippi 2013
Domestic and Foreign Commodities
Foreign
Commodity
Total Tons
Domestic
Imports
Exports
Coa l
1,421.5
1,420.9
0.0
0.6
Petrol eum
14,442.1
7,260.9
344.6
6,836.6
Crude Petrol eum
15,701.4
1,248.5
14,452.9
0.0
Aggrega tes
3,270.5
3,166.9
103.5
0.1
Gra i ns
5,175.0
5,165.4
0.3
9.3
Chemi ca l s
4,750.9
2,668.5
1,560.0
522.3
Ores /Mi nera l s
621.9
445.1
170.5
6.2
I ron/Steel
1,101.5
1,090.4
2.5
8.5
Others
3,461.3
1,543.4
885.6
1,032.3
TOTAL
49,946.0
24,010.1
17,519.8
8,416.0
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics
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SOURCE
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Mississippi State Website: http://www.ms.gov/content/Pages/DidYouKnow.aspx
Signal International; http://www.signalint.com/
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District: http://www.mvk.usace.army.mil/
U.S. Census; http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html
U.S. Census; http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0014.pdf
U.S. Energy Information Administration; http://www.eia.gov/state/
USACE Mobile District;
http://www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Recreation/TennesseeTombigbeeWaterw
ay/SnagboatMontgomery.aspx
Tennessee‐Tombigbee Waterway; http://history.tenntom.org/
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