They enable year-round, ice-free barge service with river flow levels controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

[5] Designated a foreign trade zone, it is a major economic engine for the region with over 2.7 million tons of cargo shipped through the Port in 2013 alone.

[6] The notion of making Tulsa a port city on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) evolved during the early 1960s, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was constructing the massive waterway.

The Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce appointed Early Cass to chair a committee, thereafter known as the City of Tulsa–Rogers County Port Authority.

[7] The port received its first commercial shipment in January 1971,[7] It was officially opened for business on February 20, 1970, and was formally dedicated by President Richard M. Nixon on June 5, 1971.

[12] In 2020 the Tulsa Port of Catoosa received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration for railroad crossing repairs, freight rail infrastructure, and interchange improvements at the multimodal shipping complex and industrial park.

[14][15] The port has five public terminals that can transfer inbound and outbound bulk freight between barges, trucks and railroad cars.