Port of Beaumont

P.O. Drawer 2297
Beaumont, Texas, U.S.A. 77704

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Port of Beaumont expands to east bank of Sabine-Neches Waterway with award of new dock project

BEAUMONT, TX (3/12/08) – Port of Beaumont commissioners this week approved a contract worth more than $17.5 million with Houston-based Orion Construction LP to build a new 650-foot wharf on the east bank of the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

The new deepwater general cargo wharf is a portion of $52.5 million in capital improvements under way to develop hundreds of acres of port property in Orange County, across the waterway from the port’s main facilities.

“This is truly a groundbreaking project and a significant event in the history of the port,” board president C.A. “Pete” Shelton said. “Vessel operations on both sides of the channel will undoubtedly lead to unprecedented expansion and growth of our port.”

Other improvements planned for Orange County include a new access road and developed storage areas. The port is also constructing a new office building for the U.S. Surface Deployment Distribution Command and is expanding the port’s railcar storage capacity for the Jefferson County (west bank) facilities.

Construction on the new wharf should begin within the next month and should be complete in 18 months, port director Chris Fisher said of the project.

Port commissioners also awarded Orion a contract worth more than $481,000 to repair pilings beneath the port’s grain elevator wharf.

Work on that project should begin within the next few weeks and last about three months and should not affect grain elevator operations, Fisher said.

Louis Dreyfus Corp. operates the port’s grain elevator.