Posted on June 24, 2019
A Portsmouth-based specialist in packing agriculture products for shipment is looking to expand its export business with a facility on Norfolk International Terminals.
Arreff Terminals Inc., a certified organic grain handler, wants to lease a pier, install transloading equipment and rehabilitate a disused rail spur at the terminal, said Jeremy Latimer, director of rail programs at the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Latimer told the Commonwealth Transportation Board, the state body that oversees spending on transportation projects, that Arreff plans to invest $3 million in its NIT facility.
The company is asking for a $140,000 state grant to help pay for the rail spur, he said.
Latimer said the company expects to unload 1,500 railcars a year at the facility, transferring the freight to ocean shipping containers.
The venture will generate 12 jobs, he added.
Barbara Nelson, vice president of government affairs for the Port of Virginia, said the the state authority has worked for several years to make the project happen.
It will be an important addition to the port, she told the CTB on Tuesday.
While two CTB members from Norfolk, John Malbon and W. Sheppard Miller, said they’ve been concerned that the rail funds sometimes go to projects that would have been built anyway, both said they supported the Arreff project. The board has not taken a final vote on the grant.
Arreff specializes in handling a variety of grains and oil seeds, including bagging them for shipment, fumigating them, blending them and transferring them from trucks or rail cars to package them for overseas shipment.
The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: pilotonline.com
