"Climate-friendly" project will reduce trucking emissions, rely on solar energy

"Climate-friendly" project will reduce trucking emissions, rely on solar energy

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"Climate-friendly" project will reduce trucking emissions, rely on solar energy

After years of debate and planning for a cold storage facility in Maine’s largest city, Portland Mayor Kate Snyder and Maine Governor Janet Mills led the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday on a vacant 15-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Portland International Marine Terminal.

The site along the city’s working waterfront, between Commercial Street and the Fore River, will house a 107,000 square foot, 50-foot-tall cold storage facility that will refrigerate fish and other foods.

It with have 15 loading docks and capacity for more than 1,000 shipping containers’ worth of products, as each container can hold 20 palettes, said Tom O’Shaughnessy, a principal at Amber Infrastructure Group, the lead developer, in partnership with Treadwell Franklin Infrastructure.

Mills said, "This new 22,000 palette facility will allow that cold storage to happen right here, ensuring that Maine businesses are able to keep food production, storage, and distribution, local, and saving on transportation costs for all of these businesses and entities."

The construction is projected to cost $55 million, with the state contributing $8 million and the federal government, $500,000.

Iceland-based shipping giant Eimskip is part of the development team.

Snyder said, "Maine lacks a modern cold storage facility with multi-transportational access. This new facility will serve the working waterfront and the shipping industry and has the potential to make the port an even bigger draw for shippers."

After construction, the facility is expected to host 16 permanent jobs, O’Shaughnessy said.

Overall, the project's estimated economic impact will be $500 to $900 million dollars a year for the state, according to a 2017 study by University of Southern Maine business students.

Snyder said, “This is an incredible economic development opportunity for Portland, the region, and the state of Maine.”

The facility also promises environmental benefits by reducing the trucking of products requiring cold storage to Massachusetts and Canada and drawing on its own solar panels to supply 20% of its electricity, with what the governor said would be the largest rooftop solar array in the state.

Mills said, “This cold storage facility is a win for our local businesses and our economy, and I am glad to get it done in a climate-friendly way.

Developers leased the land for 50 years from the Maine Port Authority.

MPA Executive Director Matt Burns said, "It's taken us a long time to determine whether this was the right fit for the port, and I think it is."

Construction is expected to take a-year-and-a-half with the facility opening in February 2024.

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