A Missouri port authority will receive more than $27 million in federal funding to develop a fertilizer-handling river terminal along the Mississippi River. The Marion-Ralls Regional Port Authority was awarded a $27.3 million Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant for the project at its West Quincy site.
The award is the largest PIDP grant ever issued in Missouri and the largest along the Upper Mississippi River, federally designated as Marine Highway 35. It was issued through the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and was among a group of fiscal year (FY) 2025 PIDP awards funded with prior-year appropriations.
The grant will fund construction of a fertilizer-handling and -blending facility on the riverfront portion of the authority’s West Quincy property. Plans call for a 21,000-ton dry fertilizer warehouse equipped with a loading tower and blending system, along with a barge receiving dock and conveyors to move product between the dock and the warehouse.
Additional grant-funded elements include an 800-ton-per-hour receiving conveyor system, on-site civil work, a working barge or floating dock and an on-site operations vehicle.
The project is being developed in partnership with GROWMARK Inc., an agricultural and energy cooperative. The arrangement resembles a public-private partnership, with the port authority receiving and administering the federal grant and GROWMARK serving as the named private partner.
The port authority, established in 2020 as a political subdivision of Missouri serving Marion and Ralls counties, operates in conjunction with the Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council, which manages its administration.
The authority purchased the West Quincy site in 2021 and had previously secured about $2.5 million in combined federal and state grants for initial site work, including road construction. The port also falls within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-designated Mid-America Port Commission Port Statistical Area, a tri-state compact among Illinois, Iowa and Missouri established to coordinate regional port development.
The fertilizer facility will be located on the river-facing portion of the West Quincy property, opposite the previously announced Haymakers commercial development. Haymakers, announced in March 2025, sits on the site’s U.S. 24 frontage and is expected to open in 2027.
Additional acreage at the site remains available for development. Port authority leadership has indicated interest in eventually adding rail access to the property, which would pair with the existing river and highway connections to create a multimodal facility.
Officials have described the grant as a significant investment in the regional agricultural supply chain, pointing to potential reductions in transportation costs for farms and expanded river commerce across northeast Missouri. The award also reflects continued federal and regional focus on Mississippi River infrastructure and tri-state area economic development.
The PIDP is a discretionary grant program administered by MARAD that funds projects intended to enhance the safe, efficient and reliable movement of goods at U.S. ports. MARAD awards the grants competitively and may fund both coastal and inland river projects. The FY2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is being updated to reflect new statutory and administrative priorities.
Photo by Thomas Parker from Pexels
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