Groundbreaking ceremony for new terminal at Port Freeport, Texas

Groundbreaking ceremony for new terminal at Port Freeport, Texas    Port Freeport in Texas will this Friday hold a groundbreaking ceremony to mark start of work on the first phase of the Velasco Terminal, which as yet has no terminal operator in place.
   The project’s design allows for development of a terminal to handle containerized and/or non-containerized cargoes. First phase construction will begin in January and is expected to take to 18 to 24 months.
   When fully completed, the Velasco Terminal will have 2,400 linear feet of berth space with about 100 acres of backyard development that could handle 800,000 TEUs to 1 million TEUs annually.
   Port Freeport Executive Director A.J. Reixach Jr. said the port expect to solicit formal proposals from prospective terminal operators by the end of the year. Until then, many details, including development cost, remain undetermined, he said.
   “This new project is a direct product of Port Freeport’s master planning effort and comes at a critical time in our port’s history in which unprecedented growth is taking place,” said J.M. Lowery, chairman of the Brazos River Harbor Navigation District, which has jurisdiction over Port Freeport.