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Wellsville Intermodal Facility Bustles with Barges
WELLSVILLE, Ohio -- Larry Heck says he’s accustomed to handling the cargo of five to six barges a month pushed up the Ohio River to the Columbiana County Port Authority’s Wellsville Intermodal Facility where he runs his business.
Over the past several months, that number has climbed to 12 to 14 barges per month, reports Heck, president of Pier 48 Stevedoring LLC, a transloading company that handles all marine operations at the Wellsville site. “Between now and September, I have 28 barges headed my way,” he says.
Since the port authority installed a 60-ton overhead crane at the Intermodal Facility last summer, shippers have found the site in Wellsville a prime location to store and move their goods.
Pier 48 operates the port authority’s large crane and Heck says that the improvements in the park, mixed with renewed activity as companies take advantage of the burgeoning oil and gas business, mean prospects for growth are the best they’ve ever been.
Much of the cargo unloaded is barite for Cimbar Performance Minerals, a tenant at the Intermodal Facility, Heck says. The barite is then supplied to Anchor Drilling Fluids USA Inc., which last November opened a $2 million 12,000-square-foot processing plant at the terminal.
Anchor, the largest producer of drilling fluids in the country, uses the mineral to manufacture the “mud” used to lubricate drilling equipment on rigs as they explore for gas and oil in the Utica shale.
At its July 14 meeting, the port authority board approved the expansion of Anchor Drilling’s footprint by another acre. The company needs additional land to store inbound storage tanks, Tracy Drake, CEO of the port authority, told reporters.
Anchor Drilling Fluids has agreed to pay the port authority $1,250 in rent month-to-month starting Aug. 1, Drake reports. However, he suggests that the project could expand based on the company’s needs.
“This could be a longer deal,” Drake says, that could involve more acreage.
Heck notes that each month Pier 48 is also handling six to eight barges that carry steel coil. Recently, Pier 48 added a new forklift with the capability of handling 62,000 pounds. That forklift enables Pier 48 to unload steel coil while simultaneously handling the larger cargo from barges, he reports.
“It’s growing,” Heck reports. “We’re looking at bidding on steel slabs coming from overseas to Cleveland.”
Adding to this activity, two projects related to Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Co. – and the increased interest in the Utica shale – are starting to get underway.
Hilcorp affiliate Arrowhead Utica Pipelines is working with Marathon Petroleum Co. to construct a network of pipeline that would connect Marathon’s four holding tanks to a proposed truck offloading area on 3.6 acres at the intermodal site.
The system would allow carriers to deliver their cargo – in this case “wet” gas drilled from the Utica shale – without driving through the small town of Wellsville. Officials have said earlier that they expect between 200 and 400 trucks a day at the site.
“They’ve got some pipeline laid out now,” Heck adds.
Steve Jacobs, president of Arrowhead, says ground was broken in July for the project and construction is underway. “It’s going real well,” he says. “We’ve got contractors and crews doing site preparation.”
Construction of the pipeline should begin in August and the entire project should be completed by the end of the year, Jacobs notes. “It will allow oil to be trucked from well locations and into the terminal, where the trucks are offloaded and the oil stored at the Marathon tanks,” he explains.
Each of Marathon’s holding tanks has the capacity to store 2.5 million gallons. A pipeline would then be constructed to the docks, where barges can be loaded and shipped along the Ohio River to refineries. Marathon has agreed to pay the port authority $2.4 million for the 3.6 acres at the 70-acre industrial park.
Most important, the development allows all truck traffic to bypass the town of Wellsville and provide direct access to the highway, Jacobs notes. “It removes all traffic away from the neighborhoods,” he says.
Between 10 and 15 workers are at the site right now, but that number should grow to about 25 once construction is in full swing, Jacobs says.
Arrowhead Utica also signed a 99-year lease in July 2012 with the port authority to construct a shale-gas transfer complex at the Wellsville site. That project would consist of 22 acres, and officials project the company could invest as much as $40 million into the proposed complex.
Columbiana County Commmissioner Tim Weigle says Hilcorp’s plans tie in directly to the company’s overall strategy of knitting this section of the Utica together through pipelines and processing systems.
“A lot of this is going to come together and tie into NiSource’s plan on Stateline Road,” he reports, referring to the company’s cryogenic plant under construction in Springfield Township in Mahoning County.
NiSource Midstream has partnered with Hilcorp to form Pennant Midstream LLC, which is developing the Hickory Bend project, a $300 million 50-mile pipeline and processing system extending from western Pennsylvania, through Mahoning County, and into Columbiana County (see related story Page 14).
“There’s going to be oil that needs to move south, and we’re excited about the development there,” Weigle says. “I would hope that as oil and gas continues to develop, the Intermodal Facility would grow, too.”
The only setback for the Wellsville site is the lack of available land, the commissioner concedes. “We don’t have as much property as we’d like to have,” he says.
And, Drake adds that all indications point to rising demand for industrial sites in this region.
“If I had 100 more acres at Wellsville, I could fill it,” he says.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story appears in our August 2013 print edition.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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