The two docks at the Port of Little Rock worked 519 barges and handled 791,655 tons of cargo in 2019, according to the latest port data.
The activity marked near-record levels for the port despite 59 days lost to flooding on the Arkansas River, said Bryan Day, the port's executive director.
Both the barge numbers and cargo tonnage "are the third-highest in port history," he said, eclipsed only by activity in 2018 and 2015.
The record 2018 saw the port's stevedore company, Logistic Services Inc., work 551 barges and handle 838,020 tons of cargo.
Last's year result came after December port activity totaled 32 barges worked and more than 47,000 tons of cargo handled, down from the same month in 2018, which saw 41 barges and 62,000 tons of cargo move through the docks.
-- Noel Oman