The Cargill grain terminal in New Boston, IL is Cargill’s newest terminal along the Mississippi River. The facility is presently under construction and is set to be finished this October. The facility is made up of 4 upright cement silos holding 72000 bu of storage each, with a 60000 bu shipping bin for off loading on to river barges, at a rate of 47000 bu per hour. The grain is brought to the facility by semi truck, this facility is capable of unloading a semi truck in approximately 2 min.
Barges come in on the Mississippi strapped together 3 wide and 5 long and are pushed buy a tug boat. Each barge is 38 ft x 198 ft, and hold 57,000 bushels of corn. The barges run on the Mississippi from mid March to mid December. Corn is carried to the Gulf of Mexico, where it is transferred to ships for export. The barges often carry coal or fertilizer on the trip back. The tug boats operate with crews that form two shifts so the tugs never stop running, and they typically work 30 days on and 30 days off. Barges cannot be loaded at this terminal if the river rises 18 ft above the average river level, and only need 9 ft of water to run in.
The new facility replaces an old Cargill wooden grain terminal; the original facility was 70 years old and had been shut down due to being unsafe. Cargill is spending approximately 9 million dollars for the demolition and reconstruction of the new facility. When the facility is finished the new terminal will employ 4 fulltime workers and an extra person during harvest to operate the grain dryer. Cargill chose to replace the facility with concrete silos rather than steel bins. Concrete comes in at twice the cost of steel bins but it will last twice as long and the concrete will withstand the water pressure if and when the Mississippi floods its banks. Concrete was also decided to be used because of space issues, there is a limited space between the water and the town. Steel bins are extremely wide at the bottom, requiring a large area, where as silos are taller and require a smaller area.
Aaron Bakker
