The clean oil products and ethanol terminal, which is located at Mile Marker 177.3 on the upper Mississippi River, had started up as an ethanol storage and logistics hub in 2008.

The terminal has transformed to a predominantly crude intermodal logistics facility, kicking off its first rail-to-barge crude loading at the end of July, Marshall Bockman, terminal manager at Gateway Terminals, told OPIS on Thursday.

Gateway Terminals is owned by SEACOR Inland River Transport, which is a division of SEACOR Holdings.

Two weeks ago, Kirby loaded its first Bakken crude cargo onboard barges from Gateway Terminals, adding more flexibility to its barge loading operations on the river. Prior to that, Kirby had loaded crude on barges from pipelines at terminals above St. Louis on the river.

Gateway Terminals could accommodate 120 unit rail cars in less than 24 hours. The facility could also store 120 unit cars and two locomotives on site.

The terminal can handle up to 18 unit trains a month and can load 3,500 bbl of crude oil per hour onto a three-barge tow.

Gateway is located adjacent to two major switchyards in the St. Louis metro area, the Alton & Southern Railway Company, the facility’s major provider, and the Terminal Railroad Association. Gateway’s operating and interchange plan is in compliance with BNSF and Union Pacific railroads.

Gateway Terminals has a total of four 100,000-bbl each capacity storage tanks, with three dedicated solely to crude.

The current crude-dedicated storage capacity could be increased as a fourth tank could be used for crude storage.

Also, the terminal has room for future capacity expansion as it holds a permit for the construction of a fifth 100,000-bbl storage tank. More storage capacity could be added in the future, depending on market demand.

It would take only six months to complete a 100,000-bbl tank construction project.

Domestic crude movements by barge from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast were at an all-time high of 1.77 million bbl or 57,000 b/d in March, according to the latest monthly data issued by the Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, Bakken crude production has risen significantly in the past few years, helping North Dakota overtake Alaska as the second-largest oil producer in the U.S.

Bakken crude output is expected to continue to rise in the near term. Apart from higher output, there has been a rush to build intermodal terminals and storage facilities in North Dakota to handle the volume spike.