Nearly 800 miles of commercially navigable waterways — the Mississippi River to the west, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the south — give Mississippi a unique transportation advantage, says the Mississippi Development Authority. The numbers bear it out.
Ports like those found in Gulfport and Pascagoula are a big reason why Mississippi’s foreign trade zone activity was ranked No. 10 in exports and No. 17 in merchandise received in the 83rd Annual Report of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to the Congress of the United States, released in August 2022. Those high rankings are bolstered by a No. 7 ranking in production activity related to exported merchandise.
FTZ 92 in Harrison County (Pascagoula) welcomed transactional activity in November 2022 when Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards announced an agreement to acquire acquire VT Halter Marine, Inc. and ST Engineering Halter Marine Offshore (“STEHMO”) from parent company ST Engineering North America.
“For over 75 years, my family has been dedicated to providing our government and commercial customers with the highest levels of quality, support and service in the U.S. shipbuilding industry,” said Ben Bordelon, CEO and president of Bollinger Shipyards. “The addition of VT Halter Marine and STEHMO in Pascagoula, Mississippi, is strategic as it further strengthens our position in the industry and U.S. defense industrial base by allowing Bollinger to expand our footprint, capabilities and suite of innovative solutions that we can provide to our customers.”
The acquisition includes 378 acres comprising two shipyards in Pascagoula and two dormant yards north of Pascagoula. The Pascagoula facilities are strategically located with direct, deepwater access to the Gulf of Mexico and house corporate office space, engineering, fabrication, warehousing and that handy foreign trade zone.
Ongoing programs at the facilities conveyed to Bollinger include the Polar Security Cutter program for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Auxiliary Personnel Lighter-Small program for the U.S. Navy. Bollinger said the proximity to its existing facilities allows the company to support further efficiencies and resolution of any potential capacity constraints.
“Bollinger takes great pride in being a major job creator in Louisiana,” Bordelon said last November. “Today, we’re excited to grow and expand that legacy to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. We have always said that our greatest strength has and continues to be our people. By combining our skilled workforces, we’ll ensure coastal Mississippi remains synonymous with defense shipbuilding and remains a major part of our industrial base.”
Pellets for Export
Pascagoula already is synonymous with exports, which will get a further boost from the new terminal opened there in June 2022 by Enviva, the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, as the company held a ceremony to commemorate the first shipment of sustainably sourced biomass to international power and heat producers, with a majority of the port’s future shipments slated for Japan.
“Approximately 18,000 metric tons of sustainably sourced wood pellets produced at Enviva’s newest plant in Lucedale, Mississippi, were loaded onto the UBC Sacramento at the Port of Pascagoula destined for the ports of Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe and Fort-de-France, Martinique,” the company stated. “Looking ahead, Enviva will continue to deliver its reliable and dispatchable bioenergy solutions to power and heat producers across Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean, as well as to customers in hard-to-abate industries such as steel, cement, lime, and sustainable aviation fuels.”
“Today is a great day for Enviva, the Port of Pascagoula, and Mississippi, as this terminal marks the culmination of years’ worth of work through our strong partnerships with the Jackson County Port Authority, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, and the state of Mississippi,” said Enviva President Thomas Meth. “Enviva has operated in Mississippi for more than a decade. Now, with this newly opened terminal, Enviva can continue to increase our presence, well-paying jobs, and our positive economic impact in the Magnolia state.”
Through collaboration with the Jackson County Port Authority, Enviva now owns and operates the deepwater marine terminal in the Bayou Casotte Harbor that serves as the shipment point for pellets manufactured throughout the Gulf region, via Enviva’s newly opened Lucedale, Mississippi, plant and Enviva’s forthcoming plants in Epes, Alabama, and Bond, Mississippi. Since 2019, Enviva has invested over $60 million to build the terminal at the Port of Pascagoula.
Enviva employs nearly 30 people at the Port of Pascagoula and indirectly supports more than 400 jobs across Jackson, Harrison and George Counties.
Gulfport Rolls On
At 120 years old, the Mississippi State Port Authority at Gulfport is just reaching its prime.
Fresh off the completion in 2022 of a $1 billion restoration project, the authority in March entered into a long-term lease and operating agreement with Ports America, which had already been acting as a licensed stevedore in Gulfport since 2006. The new agreement with the largest terminal operator and stevedore in the U.S. includes a 20-year term with the option for two additional 10-year terms available to Ports America.
A key component of the deal, the authority said, is a $43 million investment from Ports America to develop the vacant Terminal 4 at the Port into a cargo-handling terminal, complete with a new ship-to-shore crane and surface improvements. “This investment is in addition to Ports America’s recent acquisition of new cargo-handling equipment from Mississippi-based manufacturers,” the authority pointed out.
“We have so many strategic advantages here at the Port of Gulfport, and this partnership will develop 38 acres of currently vacant land in Terminal 4, allowing for full utilization of the asset. I look forward to continuing to work with Ports America to drive business and create jobs here on our Gulf Coast,” said Jon Nass, CEO and executive director of the Port of Gulfport.
“Our investments into Gulfport will allow the port to meet its growing demands for infrastructure development, grow its status as a crucial marine terminal transportation hub that provides high-paying jobs for the state of Mississippi, and continue the parties’ long-standing commitment to their respective employees, the ILA [International Longshoremen’s Association] and the community,” said Matthew Leech, president and CEO of Ports America.
Next on the docket (and the dock): a potential multi-temperature cold storage facility that would begin with an initial 100,000 sq. ft. on a 38-acre site minutes from the deepwater port.
Meanwhile, innovation continues apace in Gulfport. In October 2022, a year after first landing in Gulfport with a construction and testing facility, Ocean Aero, the maker of autonomous underwater and Surface Vehicles (AUSVs) with a model known as the TRITON, made the final move of its headquarters from San Diego, creating an additional 45 jobs in 67,000 sq. ft. of renovated warehouse space on the Port of Gulfport’s East Pier. The announcement noted the move was made possible by the State Port, The University of Southern Mississippi, the City of Gulfport and the state of Mississippi “in a years-long commitment to recruiting well-paying, high-technology jobs under the banner of growing the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Economy.”
The headquarters’ initial 10-year term provides for two five-year extensions. Renovations scheduled to be completed in summer 2023 include a shop and fabrication space, a shipping and receiving dock, and modernized offices for employees. Design and buildout are being provided by AnderCorp and Machado Patano Design Group.
“We are thrilled to work with this great team in the development of our new manufacturing home and headquarters on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Ocean Aero said. “It will provide us with a state-of-the-art facility as we continue to grow production and exports across the globe and will serve as a beacon of innovation for the Blue Economy.” (For more, turn to p. 56.)
Port Highlights
Mississippi’s 16 ports include facilities and authorities in Lowndes County, Port Bienville, Vicksburg, Rosedale, Natchez and Itawamba, in addition to the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority. Among recent news across that network:
Port Bienville: Governor Tate Reeves earlier this year announced the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission would receive a $2 million Mississippi Development Authority Port Improvement Fund Award, with a 47% local match of $1,760,118, to construct a 30,000-sq.-ft. warehouse with a docking bay that will welcome 15 new jobs from existing tenant Goodnight Terminal Services to accommodate increased demand and new transloading services. “The new warehouse space also supports existing industries such as Calgon Carbon,” said a release from the commission, “as the Port Bienville plant finalizes completion of the $200 million plant expansion and new production line which will create 36 new jobs.”
Tishomingo County: The Yellow Creek State Inland Port is located in Iuka in northeastern Mississippi. In addition to leasing a spec building in Burnsville to a packaging company that will serve a new sawmill in Alcorn County and create up to 30 new jobs, the Yellow Creek Port Authority is expanding the FerroSouth building, completing a rail spur at Burnsville and constructing additional improvements at two barge facilities. The area recently welcomed the completion of a $3 million expansion by General Atomics at Tri-State Commerce Park that will make large nuclear submarine parts that will be shipped by water.
Vicksburg: The 15th largest inland port in the country by tonnage according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Port of Vicksburg is a designated Foreign Trade Zone, Port of Entry and maintains a United States Customs Service to process cargo from as far away as Australia and Japan. Commodities currently handled at the port include metal, steel, aluminum, ores, wood chips, pellets, paper, chemicals, phosphate and fertilizer, and grains.
Columbus: The steel dock on the west bank of the Lowndes County Port along the Tenn-Tom consists of a two-barge notch adjacent to the channel and is used primarily to move essential raw materials to Steel Dynamics, which is making major investments to its complex in Columbus (see coverage elsewhere in this guide.) The level of activity has prompted the Lowndes County Port Authority to contemplate the addition of another port complex.
