Negotiations between the Port Authority and AGRO Merchants Group regarding construction and operation of the refrigerated cargo center had been under way for some time and were successfully concluded recently.

Plans call for the new cold storage facility at Bayport to be a multi-use building that will include state-of-the-art warehouse space to handle storage and the import and export of chilled and frozen meat, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables.

The first phase of the building will take up more than 12 acres of land, with ample room for expansion. The facility will offer customers innovative and value-added services for chilled goods moving across the docks at the Port Authority.

This expansion will allow the port growth opportunities in the refrigerated cargo sector, which has been restricted until now.

“Developing the refrigerated cargo business has been one of my key initiatives. Our central location on the Gulf Coast, our consumer reach of 144 million consumers within 1,000 miles, and our ready access to South American sources of produce drive this opportunity,” Port Commission Chairman Janiece Longoria said. “I am pleased that Roger Guenther and staff have brought this to fruition,” she added.

Inspection and handling facilities for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, blast- freezing cells and deep truck docks with ample doors for shipping and receiving will be included. The facility will have segregated frozen and chilled warehouse space to support a diverse array of products and include value-added capabilities geared toward protein and produce commodities. The site is expected to be operational by summer 2017.

Port Authority Executive Director Roger Guenther said the addition of the temperature-controlled facility at Bayport enhances the other state-of-the-art infrastructure already being offered by the Port of Houston Authority. “We welcome AGRO Merchants Group and the additional cold storage capacity the company will bring to regional and global customers to help support trade growth and create economic activity through our port,” Guenther said. “This is a win-win for the Port Authority, AGRO and the Houston region overall.”

Don Schoenl, President of AGRO Merchants North America said, “We are extremely excited to build a new facility that will provide our customers with industry-leading solutions and cost-effective alternatives to move product into and out of the U.S., especially in the Gulf Region. In Houston, we plan to leverage our property’s proximity to the Bayport Terminal to take advantage of legal transportation limits on overweight cargo and provide important rail and intermodal service capabilities.” AGRO Merchants Group has made strategic investments in 8 countries, including 12 greenfield and expansion projects.

The expansion of the Port Authority’s capacity for handling refrigerated cargo makes sense given the population growth in Houston and Texas, with numerous people being attracted to the city and area because of jobs. Houston’s central location in the Gulf of Mexico allows for fast transit times to the major produce markets in Central and South America.

AGRO Merchants Group owns and operates 53 facilities in 8 countries across the US, Europe, and Latin America, with over 700,000 square meters of cold storage space. The company is focused on providing innovative cold chain solutions on a global basis by partnering with the highest quality family businesses and creating new, reliable, and integrated trade networks to help
its customers grow. AGRO invests in modern assets, industry-leading technologies, and value-added service offerings to ensure the highest quality
supply chain management standards in the industry.

Full containerised imports grew 33 percent to 108, 441 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), while full exports improved 16 percent to 65,430 TEUs. The volumes indicate shippers have returned to the Pacific Northwest following port congestion last year during contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association.

Domestic container volumes continued to decline in January, falling nearly 13 percent to 44,799 TEUs. The Alaska economy continues to struggle due to falling oil production and prices, and much of our Hawaii-bound cargo now moves through Southern California following the sale of Horizon Lines’ Hawaii business last year.

Through the first month of the new year, container volumes through the Puget Sound gateway grew nearly 17 percent to 257,349 TEUs. Meanwhile, the declines in breakbulk cargo and auto imports were expected due to seasonal volume fluctuations. Both breakbulk and auto imports are expected to grow in 2016.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a marine cargo operating partnership of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

The port ended 2015 with a total container throughput of 4,615,196 TEU – mainly due to good performance in import-export (+6.11%) and transit traffic (+2.12%).

In terms of total traffic, Valenciaport handled a total of 70,083,977 tonnes in 2015, i.e. an increase of 4.44% over the previous year, registering the best ever traffic figures for the three ports managed by the Port Authority of Valencia (Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia). Foreign trade also performed well with imports and exports of general cargo going up by 10.38% to 21.01 million tonnes. A breakdown of these figures reveals a 10.19% rise in exports, to 13.64 million tonnes, mainly boosted by buoyant traffic results to China (+4.80%), Saudi Arabia (+25.63%), the USA (+28.65%) and Algeria (+0.52%). Imports also grew by 10.73% to 7,369,936 tonnes, with traffic from China (+1.68%), Italy (+22.89%), the USA (+1.54%) and Turkey (+22.63%) being particularly significant. Overall transit figures, meanwhile, rose by 4.82% during the year.

Containerised general cargo increased by 6.04% in 2015, to a total throughput of 52,267,244 tonnes. In this category, finished construction materials went up by 7.38% to 5.21 million tonnes, other goods rose by 4.51% to 2.02 million tonnes, and chemical products increased by 5.63% to 1.65 million tonnes.

Conventional general cargo ended the year with a total throughput of 10,834,853 tonnes, up 14.80% on 2014. This increase  was mainly due to encouraging results in iron and steel products, which rose by  13.28% to 1.93 million tonnes, and in cars and car parts, which went up by  33.35%to 1.39 million tonnes. Similarly in 2015, the ports of Valencia and Sagunto together moved a total of 689,426 vehicles as goods, i.e. an impressive 40.36% increase over the previous year. Ro-ro traffic also ended the year on a high note with a total of 8,544,804 tonnes, up 12.38% on 2014.

Conversely, liquid bulk dropped sharply by 26.94% in 2015, to a total of 3,814,375 tonnes, These decreases were headed by natural gas throughput, which fell by 39.05% to 2.24 million tonnes, and by fuel-oil, which went down by 15.60% to 326,000 tonnes. On the upside, diesel traffic rose by 30.29% to 477,000 tonnes.

In turn, solid bulk grew slightly during the year (+0.17%) to 2,684,864 tonnes. In this category, grain and flour shipments went up by 8.37% to 993,000 tonnes, whilst figures for cement and clinker rose by 9.01% to 722,000 tonnes. On the downside, natural and artificial fertilisers closed the year with 511,000 tonnes, i.e. a fall of
5.27%.