Tulsa Ports

The Tulsa Ports' primary facility is the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. It is near the city of Catoosa in Rogers County, just inside the municipal fenceline of Tulsa. It encompasses an area of and employs over 4,000 people at over 70 companies in its industrial park. The port ships manufactured goods and agricultural products from Oklahoma to the rest of the world. Designated a foreign trade zone, it is a major economic engine for the region, with over 2.7 million tons of cargo shipped through the port in 2013 alone. History The notion of making Tulsa a port city on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) evolved during the early 1960s, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was constructing the massive waterway. A delegation of 23 Tulsa businesspeople travelled to Ohio to evaluate the impact of the effects of the Ohio River Valley navigation systems on regional business growth. They concluded that it would stimulate business in Oklahoma, and convinced other Tulsa business leaders to support the concept. The Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce appointed Early Cass to chair a committee, thereafter known as the City of Tulsa–Rogers County Port Authority. The port received its first commercial shipment in January 1971, This port is the largest in Oklahoma. It is also one of the largest, farthest-inland river ports in the United States. It is located from the Tulsa International Airport and from downtown Tulsa. It is a fully equipped, multimodal transportation center served by both the BNSF Railroad and the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. The port also provides rail switching services, known as the Port of Catoosa Industrial Railroad, In 1971, the first full year of operation, the port handled 86,654 tons of cargo. In 2013, it handled over 2.7 million tons. In addition to the many private terminals for grain, fertilizer, and break-bulk cargo located along the port channel, the port operates a 200-ton capacity overhead crane and a roll-on/roll-off dock. In 2016, the port added a new 720-ft dock accommodating a rail line and multiple cranes. In 2020, the Tulsa Port of Catoosa received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration for railroad-crossing repairs, freight-rail infrastructure, and interchange improvements at the multimodal shipping complex and industrial park. On Thursday 24 September 2020, the Tulsa Port of Catoosa was rebranded to Tulsa Ports. Facilities The port has five public terminals that can transfer inbound and outbound bulk freight between barges, trucks, and railroad cars. • Dry cargo terminals are owned by Tulsa Port of Catoosa. The dry break bulk cargo dock is operated by Tuloma Stevedoring, Inc. and primarily handles commodity iron and steel products. The dock is long with a wide concrete apron, and has various cranes and forklifts. It also features a overhead traveling bridge crane. • Dry bulk freight terminal is a public terminal operated by Gavilon Fertilizer LLC, and which can handle materials ranging from pig iron to fertilizer. This terminal has two pedestal cranes and an outbound conveyor loading system. Both open and covered storage areas are available. • Roll-on/Roll-off (RO - RO) low water wharf or "Project Cargo" is a public wharf operated by the Port Authority very large cargo (e.g. certain process equipment used in oil refineries. Often these cannot be shipped easily by truck or rail because of their weight or their overall dimensions. Sometimes these are shipped internationally by sea, and must be transferred to or from ocean-going vessels at the Port of Houston or the Port of New Orleans). • Bulk liquids terminals handle such commodities as chemicals, asphalt, refined petroleum products and molasses. There are seven such terminals at the Port. Recent tenants The facility continues to grow. In February of 2026, Mecad USA announced a 32,000 square foot manufacturing facility and headquarters at the Port estimated to cost $13.4 million and create 300 jobs. ==Tulsa Port of Inola==

Tulsa Ports’ Inola facility, known as the Tulsa Port of Inola, is a 2,500 acre industrial park. It has rail access to the Union Pacific, as well as barge access to MKARNS. In February of 2026, the company announced an $800 million expansion. The plant lays the foundation for industrial facilities which could likely provide 10,000 future jobs. The resulting Verdigris Southern Railroad opened in April of 2024. Further upgrades are planned. As of December, 2023, an additional $150 million in infrastructure improvements were to be made to roads, water, and other utilities over the next two years. Enel expected to invest over $1 billion in the 1.5 million square foot facility, creating 1,000 permanent jobs by 2025, with the possibility of creating another 900 in a second phase. But an even larger development came about in May of 2025, when a $4 billion aluminum plant was announced for the Port. This will be the first primary aluminum plant (starting with raw alumina) to be constructed within the U.S. in almost five decades, and will likely foster barge traffic to the Port. In late February, the parties behind the facility signed an agreement with an aluminum fabricator, U.S. Aluminum Company, to utilize the raw aluminum. This could result in that company building a facility at the port, and taking the aluminum in melted form to produce finished products. ==References==