Barge Transportation Planning Specialist -ARTCO- Decatur, IL

Job Description Barge Transportation Planning Specialist - ARTCO - Decatur, IL American River Transportation Company Full-Time | Exempt Position Position Summary This customer-facing role is responsible for coordinating barge movements and placements along a designated segment of one of North America’s major waterways, ensuring efficient and reliable transportation solutions for customers and internal stakeholders. The ideal candidate will bring a strong customer service mindset, excellent communication skills, and the ability to navigate a fast-paced, dynamic environment while building effective relationships with customers, third-party partners, and operational teams.

The role combines commercial, financial, and operational expertise to optimize barge movements, asset utilization, and transportation economics across the network. The candidate will develop and leverage models to evaluate northbound and southbound lane economics, market spreads, netbacks, barge revenue, empty miles, and the true cost of operational downtime to identify opportunities to improve network performance and profitability. The position will also forecast barge requirements, support commercial and operational execution, and provide business and accounting expertise for system enhancements and new technology initiatives.

Success in this role requires close collaboration with Commercial, Logistics, Accounting, Technology, and ARTCo teams, as well as the ability to represent the Commercial team in customer engagements, internal initiatives, and external industry activities while maintaining operational and regulatory compliance.

Key Responsibilities Business Development Responsibilities (70+%)Develop models for northbound lanes to identify opportunities with the strongest netbacks.

Build flexible models for southbound lanes that can adjust as spreads change from the St. Louis area to locking river markets.

Provide accounting expertise and business requirements to support the upgrade system for ADM/ARTCo.Represent the Commercial team during the RFP process for a new Barge Management System, expected to begin in Q4.Partner with the Power BI team to develop dashboards that improve visibility into asset utilization and performance.

Analyze barge revenue to identify opportunities to increase barge days and reduce empty miles.

Manage the caustic position to ensure operational and regulatory compliance.

Evaluate the true cost of boat downtime, including purchased freight and towing, lost barge days, and charter costs.

Collaborate with the Northbound team to support sales, logistics, and overall commercial execution.

ARTCO at various internal, external, and customer-related meetings or events barge requirements and communicate anticipated needs to appropriate stakeholders

Dispatching Responsibilities (30%)Communicate with internal and external customers, addressing and resolving related issues in a timely and professional manner

Schedule barge traffic and coordinate pickups with ARTCO line boats

Maintain regular communication with third-party customers and partners, including towers, fleeters, and other service providers

Coordinate with internal teams, including Sales, regarding barge availability, customer needs, and operational requirements

Assist with administrative responsibilities and other duties as needed

Crosstrain in additional dispatch functions to provide support when necessary

Communicate daily with Operations, Safety, and other internal teams as required

Qualifications

Strong commitment to customer service, relationship management, and professional communication

Associate degree in a related field required, plus 2–5 years of relevant experience required

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or a related field preferred

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