Rail dry bulk terminal now available to tenants and customers at Port Bienville
May 31, 2014
A new rail dry bulk terminal is now available for use by tenants and customers at Port Bienville. Port Director Steve Landry said the 40-acre site was developed with a new rail spur so that tenants and customers could transfer shipments from rail to truck or from truck to rail in a convenient, safe way.
"From time to time we had gotten requests from tenants and/or customers who wanted to transload in the port but we didn't really have a suitable area for this type of work. So we developed a rail spur in an open area where someone can bring in cranes and other equipment to offload cargo onto a truck or bring shipments in by truck and load onto rail."
Landry said the work was done in two phases for efficiency. The rail spur was added first and then the limestone road and the laydown area were built. The project was paid for by grant money and funding from the Port and Harbor Commission. The improvements to the unused, open area has created another site for Port Bienville to market.
"Basically it gives us a site ready for a tenant," Landry said. "For now we will use it for transloading, but it can be developed into one large site or four smaller sites with rail in the center. It is money well spent."
Landry said in the past the Port used a makeshift area to handle transloading operations. Years ago, when NASA was building a new test stand, several large tanks were brought by rail into the Port to be unloaded and trucked into Stennis Space Center. Another customer brought in steel beams by rail for unloading.
"We think this new area is safer and more convenient, and we can use it for several things including storing rail cars. And if we have a potential tenant who would like the site, we could work the rail into it," Landry said. The site could be developed even more, depending on how much it is used. "We think this is something that is going to help the Port," he said. "It's one more thing our tenants can take advantage of."