For the second time in 14 months, the Lowndes County Port Authority has landed a major grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation to upgrade equipment at its facilities.
Port director Will Sanders confirmed the port has received a $739,000 MDOT grant that will go toward the purchase of a new crane for its east bank operations.
“We’re very pleased to get this grant,” Sanders said. “The current crane we’re using was built in 1972 and was badly in need of being replaced. We’re on our fourth rebuilt engine. It’s on its last legs.”
Sanders said he applied for the $939,000 grant, with the port providing $200,000 of that total as a match.
Under new guidelines, the purchase of the crane will go through an online reverse auction process where the port will list its specs and manufacturers will bid on providing the equipment.
“The old crane was a 100-foot crane with a four-yard clam shell bucket, but we are looking for a 110-foot crane with a five-yard clam shell,” Sanders said. “That will allow us to unload and load more efficiently and, of course, we won’t have to deal with the crane breaking down and being out of operations the way the current crane has done. We’re excited for what this will mean for our operations.”
In July 2018, MDOT awarded the port a grant of $476,317 to add a 250-foot crane rail extension on the west bank that allows operators to offload two barges simultaneously.
“The west bank is primarily off-loading where as, on the east bank, we are both off-loading and on-loading,” Sanders said.
The reverse auction begins on Oct. 3. Once a bid is accepted, Sanders said it would take about four months for delivery and installation.
Port Authority Board Chairman Charles Miller said he is thrilled with the improvements the port will see from the grants.
“Will’s leadership has been phenomenal in putting us in the position to do these things,” Miller said. “(Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins) has always wanted us to get the port ready for the next big thing and Will has been instrumental in doing that. I give him a lot of credit.”
Higgins said the new additions are a big boost to the port’s operations.
“We were told that the grant they got last year would increase the efficiency of the port by 20 percent, just by adding that extension,” Higgins said. “Now, with a new crane on the east bank, they’ll have increased both efficiency and capacity. It’s a big deal.”
Sanders said the port handles more than 1 million tons of product shipped in and out the port each year. The port is home to two large shipping companies — Watco and Logistics Services, both of which service Steel Dynamics, Inc. Watco handles about 90 percent of the scrap metal shipped up the river to Columbus and SDI while Logistics Services handle the bulk of river transport of finished steel product, which is shipped north.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.