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Wellsville Terminal Project Now Complete
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio -- After more than 10 years of development and $5.7 million invested, the Wellsville Intermodal Facility is complete.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Columbiana County Port Authority said the project "will expand the capability of the facility at Ohio's largest river port and provide the state with additional international cargo access to Gulf of Mexico ports," including New Orleans and Mobile, Ala.
With its 60-ton overhead river crane, bulk cargo handling system and access to railroad and highway, the 70-acre riverside terminal is already serving as a beacon to industrial development. The most recent project involves a $5 million, 99-year lease with Arrowhead Utica Pipeline LLC of Houston, which will locate its base of operations to the terminal. Arrowhead plans to build pipelines from the Utica shale play to the industrial park.
In July, Marathon Petroleum Co. committed $2.4 million to develop 3.6 acres for a holding area for trucks hauling "wet" natural gas from the Utica shale play. Drivers will use the land to park their trucks while they wait to offload their cargos into one of four 2.5-million-gallon holding tanks on Marathon's property.
In June, Cimbar Performance Materials of Georgia expanded its barite processing line at the industrial park, spending $6.5 million, and planned to hire 27 workers in addition to the 34 it employs. With the line producing a range of "customized mineral products," the company's president, Albert Wilson, said the new products will help Cimbar grow in the specialty talc, calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide product lines. The expansion increases Cimbar's annual capacity to 650,000 tons.
Cimbar also formed a joint effort with Tulsa, Okla.-based Anchor Drilling Fluids USA Inc. to process the drilling fluid, or “mud,” used to lubricate drills during deep drilling. In May, the State Controlling Board approved $3.5 million from the logistics and distribution stimulus loan fund to the port authority to help with the project.
"What the state of Ohio is looking for is a return on investment," said the port authority's CEO, Tracy Drake. "If the state puts monies into a project, they want to see multiple returns based upon the investment and jobs created, and I think we're on the verge of being able to say that."
The river crane at the terminal is a big selling point for the port authority, Drake affirms. Designed by W.R. Coles of Nashville, Tenn., and built by Hohl Industrial Services Inc., the crane allows the seamless movement of materials from river barge to rail car to truck, and is equipped to handle bulk cargo. While it’s already attracted a variety of potential tenants, Drake said more can be done to augment the crane.
“We need to put in a conveyor system at some point in time,” Drake said. “We’re waiting for the right mix of customers to see how much we can leverage to get more state or federal dollars.”
Although the crane was officially completed last year, the port authority christened it in October 2008 by loading segments of the Ares I-X test rocket's upper state simulator onto a Delta Mariner ocean-going vessel. It took a full week for the port authority to load the 11 segments, the largest being 18 feet in diameter and weighing more than 50,000 pounds with the loading cart.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.