Page 25: of Marine News Magazine (May 2022)

24 26

making the pie bigger. Caldwell cited three new projects in 2022: • At Helena Harbor, a 4,000-acre multi-modal site on the Mississippi

River, a $10 million Delta Regional

Authority grant will fund road improve- ments to facilitate operations for Helm

Fertilizer, a major tenant.

• At the Port of Osceola, California based Envirotech Vehicles, Inc. (EVT) will build its new $80 million EV man- ufacturing facility. Port access was called “vital” in a company press release.

• Also in Osceola, although just past the Port’s of? cial boundary, U.S. Steel broke ground this year on construction of its next-generation “highly sustain- able and technologically advanced steel mill” close to the company’s Big River plant. Mississippi River access and Class 1 rail service were priorities.

Both the EVT and the U.S. Steel project bear a closer look.

Sue Emry is Executive Vice President of Envirotech Vehicles. She was asked about the importance of port access for EVT’s site selection. “The plant’s proximity to the Mississippi River, rail- road and access to the port of Osceola is well-suited for the ef? cient trans- port of our electric trucks and vans,”

Emry said. “Having a sustainable way for EVT to transport our electric com- mercial vehicles was a major factor in selecting a site location,” she explained.

The port will be used both for import and export. Vehicles will be imported for ? nal assembly and then shipped out to regional and international markets.

James Bell is Vice President, Con- struction, for U.S. Steel. Scrap metal and virgin metallics, such as pig iron and HBI (hot briquetted iron), are the new plant’s raw material. Bell said www.marinelink.com MN 25|