BEAUMONT, TX (December 17, 1999) The Port of Beaumont's
grain elevator will return to full operation when Louis Dreyfus Corp. takes
over the elevator lease today.
Port commissioners paved the way for the elevator to resume operations when they approved an environmental agreement with Contigroup and Dreyfus. Contigroup, formerly Continental Grain Company, leased the elevator from the port for the past 34 years. The environmental agreement was the last hurdle that had to be cleared before Dreyfus could assume the last 16 years of the lease between the port and Contigroup.
Bill Masters, port director, said Dreyfus and Contigroup have signed the environmental agreement and Dreyfus will take control of the grain elevator
today. Louis Dreyfus Corp. is a worldwide trading and merchandizing firm based in Wilton, CT.
Masters said the port is very pleased that Dreyfus has assumed the grain elevator lease and expects the port's export grain business to increase.
"Our estimates are for the elevator to handle at least 50 million bushels of grain in the next year, which represents about 1 ½ million tons of cargo," Masters said.
The cargo is expected to generate local employment of 6,000 man-hours for the longshore labor force, with annual economic impact of some $17 million.
Masters said that employment figure is for longshoremen only, and does not include the 30-40 persons who will be employed directly by Dreyfus to operate the elevator.
Dreyfus will spend the next two weeks performing minor maintenance on the facility and expects to load the first shipment of grain in January.
The 3.5 million-bushel capacity grain elevator was built by the port in the early 1960's and has been leased to Continental Grain since 1965.
In 1995, the port and Continental agreed on a new 20-year lease for the facility. However, Continental was sold to Cargill Inc. in 1998, and the U.S. Justice Dept. forced Cargill to divest itself of four grain elevators, including the one in Beaumont.
Masters said the port is spending $10 million to upgrade and modernize the grain elevator. The final phase of the grain elevator improvement project will consist of installation of computer controls for new equipment, and should be completed by June, 2000.
For more information, contact Bill Masters, 409/835-5367
