Port of Boston may purchase former oil terminal

Port of Boston may purchase former oil terminal The Port of Boston is negotiating to buy a former oil terminal for possible use to support its growing container business, which last year grew 10 percent to 220,341 TEUs.
   The Massachusetts Port Authority said it has entered into negotiations with El Paso Corp., the parent of Coastal, to buy a 30-acre terminal located in South Boston, adjacent to the port’s Conley terminal.
   Massport said that depending on market conditions, it might use the land for container storage, refrigerated cargo handling, maintenance and repair, and related support uses, such as truck chassis storage.
   Eventually, Massport said the land would put it in a better position to develop “a deepwater berth to accommodate many of the larger ships now operating in the North Atlantic that are unable to use the Port of Boston.”
   Massport noted that the deal is dependent on obtaining a brownfield covenant from the state of Massachusetts that would protect it from lawsuits from existing environmental contamination on the property.