The Port of Muskogee, rebranded as Port Muskogee in January 2023, is a regional inland port located on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, in the United States. It is a multi-modal local hub for the

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

of goods via

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, and

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s on the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

. It is one of the farthest inland ports in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that remains ice-free year-round and can access the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. It is located near the confluence of the

, Grand River and Verdigris River in Oklahoma, at River Mile 393.8 of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.

Port traffic

In 2011, the port served 550 barges carrying over of cargo. The largest inbound commodities were

nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline Intrusion, plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varie ...

, clay, steel, fertilizer, coke and sand."Port of Muskogee: Port Commerce." World Port Commerce. 2017
Accessed May 31, 2017. Other inbound cargoes brought to the Port of Muskogee by barge in 2011 included molasses,

rebar Rebar (short for reinforcement bar or reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or steel reinforcement, is a tension device added to concrete to form ''reinforced concrete'' and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid ...

, iron ore, feed products, cookie meal, asphalt, glass cullet, and granite fines. In 2011, cargoes leaving the Port of Muskogee by barge included coke, fly ash, and steel. The port reported that in 2014, it had handled 3,564 railcars carrying of cargo"Port of Muskogee Railcar Tonnage." Muskogee, Oklahoma. 2017.
Accessed June 14, 2017. and 459 barges carrying . "Port of Muskogee Barge Tonnage." Muskogee, Oklahoma. 2017.
Accessed June 14, 2017. For 2015, it reported serving 2,210 railcars hauling of cargo and 452 barges with totalling cargo.

Muskogee City-County Port Authority

The governments of Muskogee County and the City of Muskogee, Oklahoma cooperated in the formation of the Muskogee City-County Port Authority, whose principal responsibility is to promote the construction of the inland port's facilities and to recruit cargo-handling, warehousing, and transportation industries to use them. One of its earliest achievements was to break ground for the $2.5 million Muskogee Industrial Park. The port opened for business on December 31, 1970, and the first commercial barge docked there on January 3, 1971.

Facilities

The port includes a concrete wharf that is long and twenty mooring dolphins that line another of the waterfront.

Tenants

On January 22, 2025, ground was broken on the Stardust Power Inc. $1.2 billion lithium refinery near the Port. The initial production line will produce up to 25,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium per year, with a projected second phase doubling that capacity.

Port of Muskogee Railroad

The Port of Muskogee Railroad (reporting mark: PMR) provides daily service over 5.5 miles of tracks to port industries for Class 1 interchange, cargo transfer and storage. Both the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

and

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

offer mainline service to the port.

Notes

References

External links

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian TerritoryOfficial Port Muskogee website
{{Coord, 35, 47, 10, N, 95, 18, 04, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-OK Muskogee Muskogee, Oklahoma Transport infrastructure completed in 1970