CCPA Seeks Funds to Double Intermodal Crane Capacity
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio -- The 60-ton overhead crane at the Wellsville Intermodal Facility is close to running at capacity, the CEO of the Columbiana County Port Authority, Tracy Drake, informed his board Monday night.
“Our crane is so successful that we’re running two shifts,” he reported, and the authority is considering hiring a third.
To that end, Drake wants to spend $3.5 million to build a conveyor system that would double the current capacity of the crane, In addition, Drake would have the crane “freed up so it can do more high-value work,” that is, handle materials with a higher value than are being unloaded from barges and then loaded to trucks and railcars.
Drake wants to draw down $1.2 million of a $3.5 million award from the state Logistics and Distribution Agency, he informed the board, to improve the railroad lines within the Intermodal industrial park.
Drake also reported that Marathon Oil is sitting pat, not signing an agreement to which it committed in Intermodal park, pending the outcome of how much Gov. John Kasich and the state Legislature raise the severance tax on energy companies drilling in the Utica shale.
Last month, Marathon agreed to acquire more property in Intermodal for a trans-shipment site and the port authority agreed to improve the rail access. Now, with uncertainty in Columbus on whether the severance will be hiked -- and if so, how much? -- to offset the proposed reduction in personal income taxes, Drake says all energy companies are debating whether it’s economically feasible to continue drilling in Ohio and whether to build the processing plants and pipelines planned.
In the one matter that came before the board, its five members approved an easement and right of way to American Electric Power. The easement, “30 feet wide and lying 15 feet on each side of the overhead facilities as constructed,” will allow AEP to keep up with all industrial work being done along Albright Way at Intermodal Industrial Facility in Wellsville.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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