Each day, Martin Marietta Materials moves tons of aggregates across oceans, down rivers and through waterways to meet the needs of customers. Marine transportation is a unique, fascinating process unlike any other aggregates delivery operation. Water shipping plays a vital role in getting aggregate from quarries in places like Kentucky, Nova Scotia and the Bahamas to customers scattered across the United States and Caribbean where material is not readily available.

Hundreds of river barges, carrying at least 1,500 tons apiece, and several ocean-going vessels, loaded with 60,000 tons, transport rock great distances to reach markets. Martin Marietta’s barges cover more than 3,000 miles of inland waterways. At any one time, there are 240,000 tons on barges heading down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico and other....  read more