Spring has come early in the Mid-South. A short winter means fieldwork is already in full swing. Prices for fertilizer have been on the rebound, and many of our locations are moving product at peak-season rates. Hopefully we will be able to keep product available to accommodate this very strong movement.

450,000 bushels of storage

Terral RiverService has completed construction of two 250,000-bushel capacity grain bins at its Tallulah, Louisiana industrial site.

A tornado hit the facility in April of last year, destroying a 365,000-bushel grain storage tank and over 6,000,000 gallons of liquid fertilizer storage. Terral rebuilt the two liquid tanks and has just completed the grain storage.

The grain storage is Brock bins with Essmueller 20,000-bushel-per-hour grain drags and leg. The bins have an elevated dump pit that can receive a truckload of grain in under three minutes.

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Madison Port Facility, Tallulah, Louisiana

Record-high waters begin to recede

The Mississippi River at Greenville, Mississippi has crested and is showing a slow fall. We are hopeful we can be back in business at our Greenville operation by the first of June. Yesterday we saw a crest at Lake Providence and are expecting a very slow fall over the next few days. At the Madison Port in Tallulah, Louisiana we should see a crest in the river today. The Arkansas River is still closed, but we are confident our barges staged at Rosedale for Pine Bluff can be unloaded next week.

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Mississippi River flooding limits service

Terral RiverService is currently coping with a very high Mississippi River, unlike any we have ever seen or hope to see again. Rains in the Ohio Valley and the Upper Mississippi River have created a record-high water event on the Lower Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineers is projecting the highest river levels in history for towns such as Greenville, Mississippi; Tallulah, Louisiana; Lake Providence, Louisiana; and Vidalia, Louisiana. All of these towns have Terral RiverService river operations.

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Years ago when Terral RiverService was looking for a shipyard to build its first new boat, Johnny Martin had specific ideas on what he wanted.

By Capt. Richard Eberhardt

Years ago when Terral RiverService was looking for a shipyard to build its first new boat, Johnny Martin had specific ideas on what he wanted.

Martin, who is now marine superintendent, said he wanted a river boat, not a canal boat. The Red River in central Louisiana really rolls during high water, and he wanted a boat with big rudders to be able to handle the current. He went into shipyards with his designs for barn-door-sized rudders.

“Build me a boat around these rudders,” Martin said. But he got excuses. The big rudders wouldn’t work because…. Excuses seemed endless. So he kept looking.

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