BALTIMORE — The port of Baltimore is aiming to strengthen its position in the world.
Port of Baltimore breaks ground on agriculture grain transloading facility
Officials say that new developments at the port will make things more efficient and sustainable for agriculture in the state.
On Thursday, officials came to the Port of Baltimore and celebrated the start of a better future for Maryland agriculture.
Ports America Chesapeake and Frey Commodities came together to create a grain transloading facility.
Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Kevin Atticks, said that it'll make it easier for farmers to get products to the port to ship globally.
“If a farmer wanted to export, they really had to do it themselves, and now we have the opportunity with the expertise of Frey, to come in and know where the markets are, watch the markets year round," Atticks said.
The facility will include three silos to export soybeans, corn, and more.
A truck can directly deposit grain onto a conveyor system and into the silo where it can then be placed directly into a container for export.
Officials said that it'll also lower costs, reduce truck miles, and more.
Atticks told WMAR-2 News that farmers are thrilled.
“Farmers want to farm; they want to be in the field; they want to be growing crops, and then they want to know with some certainty that they’ll be able to sell their crops, where, and who to and this provides another answer for that.”
President of Ports America Chesapeake Mark Schmidt explained how this will make the port more competitive globally.
“We saw last year from the container perspective that it's a record year for the Port of Baltimore. This would just add to that. It’ll increase the carriers' desire to ship through the port of Baltimore because they’ll have an export paying loads going out of the port to their customers overseas.”
Mike Adamchak, Chief Commercial Officer with Frey Commodities, recognizes the importance, especially with how the port was affected by the collapse of the key bridge.
“As a company we had cargo on the vessel that hit the Key Bridge, so we were keenly aware of that event and the situation of the impact that happened in the local market. If anything, it made us have more conviction about this being the place that we wanted to make this investment," Adamchak said.
The facility is expected to be up and running in August of this year.
