Enviva Holdings is set to develop a deep-water marine terminal the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi for the export of wood pellets.
The US-listed company, which describes itself as the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, said it had exercised an option with the Jackson County Port Authority to lease property in the port for the project.
Enviva said it intends to use the Pascagoula terminal to ship sustainably sourced wood pellets under long-term contracts with customers across Europe and Asia.
It plans to invest over $60m to build the new terminal, which is expected to directly employ about 30 full-time workers and support about 150 direct and indirect jobs during construction.
“The Port of Pascagoula is a key asset for global commerce and an economic engine for Mississippi,” said Enviva chief executive John Keppler.
“This project is only possible because of the hard work of dozens of officials in Jackson County.
“They were instrumental in helping us secure this critical component of our supply chain, which will enable us to export our product to meet the increasing demand from our Asian, European, and Caribbean customers.”
Exercising the lease option allows Enviva to prepare the site for construction of the Pascagoula terminal, which it expects to complete in the second half of 2020.
The terminal is designed to handle about three million metric tons of wood pellets annually and will allow Enviva to construct several wood pellet production plants in Mississippi and Alabama.
It will be capable of receiving product by rail, barge, and truck, storing up to 90,000 metric tons of wood pellets on site, and supporting panamax-sized bulkers.
Enviva said it exports its pellets primarily to power plants in the UK Kingdom and Europe that previously were fueled by coal, enabling them to reduce their lifetime carbon footprint by about 80%.
