First of two new agriculture transloading facilities breaks ground in Portsmouth
The Portsmouth Agricultural Intermodal Export Facility will sit on the former CSX Intermodal Yard at Pinners Point. The Wisconsin-based company is leasing the property from the railroad and using a $750,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia to upgrade the railyard.
It'll be the first facility of its type not only for Portsmouth, but also the East Coast.
Unlike other transload terminals that receive agriculture products after trains drop off other cargo at rail yards, unit trains carrying exclusively grain will be able to pull in to the Pinners Point facility.
Portsmouth to become 'international hub' for shipping of agriculture products, mayor says
'You achieve higher efficiency, better rates, so that's the big difference,' said Brandon Bickham, vice president of exports at The DeLong Company.
Bickham said it was in 2023 when DeLong, CSX and the city of Portsmouth Economic Development Department began negotiations to locate in Hampton Roads. However, Bickham said DeLong has been working with the Port of Virginia for several years.
'There's a great local supply of grain, and we really wanted to tie a local supply with the Midwest origination area,' Bickham said. 'And this site, this port, allowed us to do that. We've had a great working relationship with the Port of Virginia.'
Part of the development will include a 15,000-metric-ton storage silo and a 'grain leg' that'll rise to roughly 150 feet above ground.
When a truck or train comes into the terminal, the soybeans, corn, wheat, DDGs or soybean meal will be transferred into shipping containers bound for Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and China.
The facility is expected to handle 15,000 to 20,000 containers annually and help cut down on empty containers being placed on ships.
Bickham said it's also expected to aid local farmers.
Soybeans are the top agricultural export in Virginia, accounting for $1.4 billion in exports in 2023, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
'It should actually, improve [local farmers'] revenue,' Bickham said. 'So they'll have another grain bid. We should add value to the current price of grain.'
Bickham said roughly 15 to 20 new jobs will be created by the export facility.
This is the the first of two proposed facilities focusing on agribusiness in the city. Less than a mile away in Port Norfolk, Canadian-based Ray-Mont Logistics plans to do just the same at the Norfolk Portsmouth Beltline Railroad.
Portsmouth to become 'international hub' for shipping of agriculture products, mayor says
The pair of companies will join Perdue Agribusiness in Chesapeake in the exporting of grain.
'In Hampton Roads, we have a strong farming community in many of our cities,' Mayor Shannon Glover said. 'And so what this facility will enable them to do is to participate in moving their products to different markets. I think that's incredible. And I think it's something that shows collaboration, regionalism with a focus on helping our businesses to grow and prosper.'
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