About the Port District
The Pittsburgh Port District encompasses a twelve county area including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Blair, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties, essentially all 200 miles of commercially navigable waterways in southwestern Pennsylvania. It includes the three major rivers in southwestern PA: the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio. This waterway is made navigable by a system of seventeen locks and dams. The Port of Pittsburgh supports over 200 river terminals and barge industry service suppliers, including privately owned public river terminals. The Commission acts as a one-stop shopping link for shippers seeking information on the river system. The Port complex is served by the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads and by four interstate highways.
The Port and the Pittsburgh Area
Study results estimate that more than $9 billion worth of goods moved along the waterways through the Port of Pittsburgh District and 45,000 jobs in southwestern Pennsylvania are dependent upon the waterway transportation system. Inland waterway transportation is generally the least costly transportation mode. Average cost ranges between $0.005 and $0.01 per ton mile of cargo moved. This compares to nearly $0.05 for rails and $0.10 for trucks. These savings offer companies located in or choosing to locate in the Port of Pittsburgh District a substantial transportation advantage in sourcing raw materials or marketing finished products.
The Port of Pittsburgh has entered into two international sister port agreements with the cities of Duisburg, Germany, and Monterrey, Mexico.
The 2nd Largest Inland Port in the Nation
Based on 2009 data from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh is the second busiest inland port in the nation and the 20th busiest port, of any kind, in the nation. Pittsburgh is larger in tonnage than Philadelphia and St. Louis. The more than 32 million tons of cargo the Port of Pittsburgh ships and receives each year equates to an annual benefit to the region of more than $800 million.
Inland Waterway Map
