The Port of Port Arthur is about to see more improvements added to its growing list of projects after a new approximately $3.8 million staging and processing area opens for bids by summer.
The addition at the port is aimed at improving the port’s ability to move the masses of cargo coming through its docks to the warehouses, trucks and trains waiting to carry it to its destination.
While tonnage and client demand have been increasing at Southeast Texas ports, even through the pandemic, Executive Port Director Larry Kelley said this project would also complement the ongoing expansion of the port’s Berth 5.
“If you build a dock, you have an incredibly complex infrastructure that needs the right amount of back-end support to keep the cargo moving,” Kelley said.
That kind of efficient backup is even more important for a port like Port Arthur’s, where the size and layout of the historic port makes flexibility a must.
Kelley said some of the areas at the Port of Port Arthur have to be capable of moving anything from breakbulk cargo to military ordinance to heavy industrial equipment from the water to a variety of transportation methods.
The $37.2 million Berth 5 project, which will create 600 feet of multi-use dock space, is expected to be completed by mid-summer. It was supported by a $20 million “BUILD” grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation and a bond initiative approved by voters in 2014.
Federal assistance for the project was announced at the end of April by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which awarded $3 million in funding through its Economic Development Administration made available by the CARES Act authorized by Congress.
The port will also contribute $815,653 in local investment from port revenue.
“President Biden is committed to helping improve our nation’s ports and assisting our exporters as we build back better from coronavirus,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in an announcement of the grant. “This EDA investment will provide infrastructure improvements to help the Port of Port Arthur remain globally competitive by enhancing its capacity to move U.S. products.”
The project is expected to create 220 jobs, secure 55 current jobs for the extended future and generate $44 million in private investment.
The global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the economy put pressure on some of Southeast Texas’ key industries and disrupted supply chains, which in turn shrank tonnages for ports like the Port of Port Arthur during the first half of 2020.
Kelley said that creating infrastructure like an improved and modern port is a long-term process, but projects like the staging area will hopefully help the port address some of the most pressing issues the pandemic has exacerbated in Port Arthur.
“Part of this work focuses on addressing economic distress and local unemployment,” he said. “It should sustain local jobs and generate new opportunities for longshoremen labor and additional transportation jobs.”
jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com
twitter.com/jd_journalism
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May 12, 2021 at 06:03AM
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