Mississippi welcomes new terminal for Port of Pascagoula

Mississippi welcomes new terminal at Port of Pascagoula hoping to expand wood pellet shipments across the world amid a potential National Rail Strike.(WLOX)
Published: Nov. 30, 2022 at 9:31 PM CST

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) - Enviva and Port Authority officials celebrated Wednesday after opening a new terminal for the Port of Pascagoula -- a plan that has been in development for 10 years.

“It’s been a long time coming. That only happens when we think about things like this strategically,” said Thomas Meth.

This $90 million investment will help ship wood pellets from Mississippi to other places across the world in an effort that Enviva president Thomas Meth says will help ease the usage of fossil fuel usage.

“The energy secure element that wasn’t much of a discussion a couple years ago is front and center of what we all provide together from Mississippi to places that desperately need alternatives,” he said.

Thomas says this will provide an economic boost for the state creating over 400 new jobs for Jackson, Harrison and George Counties.

“The world is hungry for wood-based biomass from Mississippi, so, it will be a fantastic investment for the people of Mississippi. Not only for our employees but the whole supply chain we’re touching here.”

The biggest obstacle for terminal shipment, however, is a possible national rail strike. Governor Tate Reeves says the issue isn’t as much of a concern due of the state’s geographical advantage.

“There are ways to move product certainly via truck over interstates, there’s ways to move product via water. This particular company and many others have facilities that can utilize the Tennessee town big B to move product,” said Reeves.

One advantage he emphasizes is the Mississippi River.

“It’s a huge advantage for Mississippi to have the Mississippi Rivers on our western border,” said Reeves. “We got to continue to take advantage of that and many of the capital investments we’ve seen...we have a product that has value not only to the landowners here but has value for the people across the globe and I’m hopeful that because of this product and others that there be a few less people in Europe and Asia that will be cold this winter.”

The first shipment of wood pellets will be going to Japan. Enviva says it will ship pellets out once a week.

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