The Eastport Port Authority is exploring several opportunities for new shipments out of the Port of Eastport.
Quoddy Tides reported that Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, identified the following possibilities at the port authority’s March 18 board meeting:
- Exporting tissue rolls from the St. Croix Tissue mill in Woodland, which would require an investment in a crane for the port. The newspaper reported that Gardner has been in discussions with Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note and Nate Moulton, director of MDOT’s rail program, about the proposal.
- Shipping wood chips to the Danish firm Verdo, which supplies biomass to European power plants. It would be the first use of the Estes Head terminal’s $10-million bulk conveyor system and phytosanitary heat-treating technology.
- Exporting low-quality biomass to South America. Gardner reported the port authority is working with the Brazilian company Duferco on the biomass shipments, which would not require heat treatment as shipments to Europe require.
Quoddy Tides reported the port authority also is looking into other possibilities involving the shipment of biomass to Canada and a “smaller volume log deal to the port.”
