SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority is about to become owner of six miles of railroad track between Scott City and Cape Girardeau.

The port's executive director, Dan Overby, said at a meeting Monday of the port authority Board of Commissioners that negotiations with Union Pacific Railroad for the sale of its Cape Deau branch line are nearing completion.

The port authority expected to close the deal with Union Pacific in late October or early November. The next step is construction of a one-and-one-half-mile rail spur from the branch line to the port's public dock.

The board Monday approved a contract with Respondek, a freight- service contractor from Granite City-Wood River, Ill., which will do rail switching at the dock area and operate the railroad between the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific interchange at Scott City and the Burlington Northern Railroad interchange in south Cape Girardeau.

July net tonnage figures at the port rose to 10,195 tons, compared with 6,598 in June. But tonnage was still down considerably from the 47,640 tons that moved through the port in April.

Overby said the decline is a result of decreased shipments of agricultural fertilizer and petroleum coke for the Sikeston power plant. He said the power plant this spring stockpiled an extra supply of coke for an expected hot summer, and it wasn't needed. The plant is drawing down its stockpile, and shipments of coke resumed in late July.

"The fall fertilizer season will begin soon, so we should also see an increase in our fertilizer tonnage," Overby said.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department will let the contract for the first phase of the Nash Road extension to the port site Aug. 26. The project includes grading and construction of a roadbed from the Union Pacific railroad tracks west to Ramsey Creek. Overby credited highway officials in Sikeston and Jefferson City for speeding up planning for the project, allowing it to be moved ahead to a fall startup instead of next spring.

A dredge will begin removing sediment from the port's slackwater harbor this week. The work is part of the Corps' agreement with the port authority to provide routine dredging.