Although it may seem like an outlandish proposal to transport Wyoming coal to Asia via the Gulf Coast, barge transport expert and Jackson resident Jim Manley said that’s not the case at all.
“It’s a doable thing, it’s going to happen sooner or later,” he said. “We need exports to balance our trade, which is what (President Donald) Trump’s trying to right now with all the tariffs, to wake up the world.”
Manley, a marine surveyor, has spent around 40 years operating various barge services along the Mississippi River. Although he lives in Wyoming now, he’s still active in his marine engineering, operating and performing valet-like services for barges and towboats, as well as running terminals off the coast of the Mississippi around Davenport, Iowa.
How Would It Work?
During a news conference on Wednesday, Gov. Mark Gordon said he met with various leaders in Taiwan and Japan recently who expressed interest in buying Wyoming coal. Getting Wyoming coal to southeast Asia in an expedited manner is the missing link in that puzzle, but Gordon suggested using ports in the Gulf Coast could be the answer.
Manley compares this task to dumping a shoebox of coal into a bigger box and then loading it into a boat.
Another important piece of the puzzle could come from connecting Wyoming coal by rail to the Mississippi River, where it could then be transported downstream by barge. That kind of connection would have to be facilitated through a big investment from Wyoming or a private investor, possibly connected to the Asian coal markets.
“We got to bring foreign money back in to keep the scales balanced,” he said.
If funding can be acquired, Manley said a Gulf Coast transport route could be active in as little as 3 to 4 years.
Already Ready
Manley said he already has two locations along the Mississippi that could serve as rail-barge transfer points.
The first is in Muscatine, Iowa. Here, a coal terminal transitions inbound coal by barge to truck and features a prime location near the Canadian Pacific Railway line. The closest this line comes to Wyoming is western North Dakota.
Manley said if a rail connection could be implemented, a unit train dump facility would have to be installed, unloading entire trains of coal onto barges in just a few hours.
After halting the rotary couplers on the railcars and securing them, the entire car is then rolled over and its coal is dumped into a pit. From there, the coal is put on a conveyor belt and then taken to a barge. In this type of operation, 15-16 rail cars of coal can fill one barge, Manley said.
Manley said Muscatine offers a logistic advantage in that its more northern location allows it to cycle trains more quickly back to the Wyoming mines. Its disadvantage is that it typically sits idle for three winter months because of ice or maintenance on the Corps of Engineers locks.
A second option also exists a mile from the Burlington Northern railway mainline and about 200 miles south of Muscatine. There are two Burlington Northern railways that travel through Wyoming, but a loop spur would have to be built to access this location that could operate year-round.
Once coal has reached the gulf, south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Manley said there are countless midstream stevedoring rigs that can unload the coal onto ships.
In the past, Manley said a northern Colorado operator was able to use a similar process to bring Powder River Basin (PRB) coal from Wyoming to the Gulf Coast to blend with coal from Kentucky, some of which was distributed on ships headed around the world. Another operation brought PRB coal to power plants in Wisconsin.
Manley said the same process is used for the transport of grain and even liquids. The only difference for transporting coal instead of grain, is taking the fiberglass covers off the railcars, he said.
“We've done an inadequate job of interfacing rail to barge as these two are somewhat competitors,” he said. “Both industries and the country at large will benefit from a closer cooperative alignment.”
One serious concern that also needs to be considered at all stages of this process is the fact that coal mined in the West tends to have a higher sulphuric content, leaving it prone to spontaneous combustion and fires if left to sit around for too long.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
