Port Bienville Earns CSX Select Sites Bronze Status
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
The Port Bienville Industrial Park (PBIP) in Hancock County, Miss., has received a Bronze designation in CSX’s new Select Sites industrial development program. PBIP was the only site selected in Mississippi, among eight other sites across seven states.
The CSX Select Sites program incorporates a Bronze, Silver and Gold rating system. CSX gathered information from 60 different communities to identify possible locations. The program’s goal, CSX notes, “is to connect expanding companies with rail-service to increase commerce and logistics. The railroad partnered with Global Location Strategies (GLS) to evaluate individual sites to identify opportunities for enhancing their marketability.
PBIP has more than 3,600 acres of available property ready for development and is home to 14 companies. “The location of Port Bienville is ideal, connecting tenants and operations to ports along the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway, including the Port of New Orleans and access to deep-water Mississippi River routes,” the facility said. “PBIP’s short line railroad connects to CSX, offering access to the entire Eastern U.S, supporting heavy-haul trucking roads and moving goods to multiple connections including I-10, I-12, I-59 and U.S. Highways 49 and 90 for national coverage. PBIP offers both the ways and the means for delivery with multiple logistics services including Warehouse Services, an industry leader in bulk transport; and SSA Marine, offering a full range of services from terminal management and stevedoring to rail yard operations and warehousing to trucking and off-dock operations.”
“Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission (HCPHC) invested nearly $550,000 in due diligence on Site 1 at Port Bienville over the past year,” noted Blaine LaFontaine, CEO. “We completed a phase I environmental site assessment, cultural resources survey, geotechnical report, threatened and endangered species report and wetland delineation. Site 1 continues to be a top priority for new industry recruitment, and we are grateful to our partner CSX recognizing Site 1 at Port Bienville as the only Select Site in Mississippi.”
The Site 1 investment was made possible by a $250,000 Mississippi Development Authority Site Development Grant Award. HCPHC will continue to develop Site 1 for industrial recruitment in the upcoming year with GOMESA (Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act) funding.
