52 barge docking, moorings, cranes and conveyors for NS Rail transloading – click for larger version
According to Center Port Terminal, McKees Rocks Harbor Services (MRHS) has put the “Port” back in Center Port. Center Port Terminal is the former Ormet Aluminum Plant site located on the shoreline of the Ohio River in Monroe County, OH. The plant closed its doors as an active aluminum plant in 2014 after Ohio regulators and Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich failed to get high electric rates reduced for the plant, and refused to allow Ormet to burn coal to produce their own electricity until they could begin using natural gas to create electricity from gas wells drilled on the property (see Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It). The new owner, Niagara Worldwide LLC, first tried to market the property, renamed Center Port Terminal, to Marcellus/Utica Shale drillers and oilfield services companies (see New Ormet Aluminum Plant Owner Shops Barge Facility to Shalers). The terminal has also been marketed as the perfect place to locate a natgas-fired electric plant (see Old Ormet Site in Monroe, OH Shopped as Power Plant Location). Earlier this year, the facility was marketed to manufacturing companies (see 3rd Time the Charm: OH Center Port Terminal Woos Manufacturers). One of the chief advantages of the facility is cheap transportation to/from on the Ohio River. Center Port has 52 barge slips. It’s also connected to rail lines and highways. MRHS opened “fleeting operations” at the facility and within 90 days barge traffic to the facility tripled. That’s good for everybody, including the Marcellus/Utica industry…
