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.
• Attend ARTCO at various internal, external, and customer-related meetings or events.
• Communicate anticipated barge requirements and 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.
• Previous experience in barge transportation, logistics, or dispatch operations is beneficial.
• Ability to work a rotating weekend schedule, approximately every 7–8 weekends.

Excited about this role but don’t think you meet every requirement listed? We encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings.

ADM requires the successful completion of a background check.

REF:113647BR

Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Hourly and salaried non-exempt employees will also be paid overtime pay when working qualifying overtime hours.

If hired, employees will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

The pay range for this position is expected to be between:

$92,800.00 - $170,700.00

Salaried Incentive Plan

The total compensation package for this position will also include annual bonus.

Benefits and Perks

Enriching the quality of life for the world begins by taking care of our colleagues. In addition to competitive pay, we support your diverse needs with a comprehensive total rewards package to enhance your well-being, including:

• Physical wellness – medical/Rx, dental, vision and on-site wellness center access or gym reimbursement (as applicable).
• Financial wellness – flexible spending accounts, health savings account, 401(k) with matching contributions and cash balance plan, discounted employee stock purchasing program, life insurance, disability, workers’ compensation, legal assistance, identity theft protection.
• Mental and social wellness – Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Colleague Giving Programs (ADM Cares).

Additional benefits include:

• Paid time off including paid holidays.
• Adoption assistance and paid maternity and parental leave.
• Tuition assistance.
• Company-sponsored training and development resources, such as LinkedIn Learning, language training and mentoring programs.
• Benefits may vary for bargained locations, confirm benefit eligibility with your recruiter.

#IncludingYou

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are cornerstones of ADM’s efforts to continue innovating, driving growth, and delivering outstanding performance. We are committed to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce and create welcoming, truly inclusive work environments — environments that enable every ADM colleague to feel comfortable on the job, make meaningful contributions to our success, and grow their career. We respect and value the unique backgrounds and experiences that each person can bring to ADM because we know that diversity of perspectives makes us better, together.

We welcome everyone to apply. We are committed to ensuring all qualified applicants receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, language, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, sexual orientation, age, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

About ADM

At ADM, we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide. With industry-advancing innovations, a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, and a commitment to sustainability, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow. We’re a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. Our breadth, depth, insights, facilities and logistical expertise give us unparalleled capabilities to meet needs for food, beverages, health and wellness, and more. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we enrich the quality of life the world over.

Req/Job ID

113647BR

LI-Onsite

Ref ID

LI-BE1