Indiana's Mount Vernon shipping port set cargo mark in 2017

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) - A state agency says Indiana's busiest shipping port had its busiest year ever during 2017.

The Ports of Indiana Commission says the Mount Vernon port along the Ohio River near Evansville handled 6.8 million tons of shipping cargo last year, a jump of 7 percent from 2016. That total was 200,000 tons more than the port's previous record in 2015.

The agency says the Mount Vernon port was boosted by increases in ethanol, fertilizer and coal shipments last year. Soybean meal and oil, corn and wheat are other major products that are shipped through the port.

Officials say the Mount Vernon port handles more cargo than the agency's other two ports combined. Those ports are on the Ohio River in Jeffersonville and along Lake Michigan at Burns Harbor.