Simmesport, La.-Helena Chemical Co. has become the first tenant of the new Avoyelles Parish Port being developed on the Atchafalaya River, just outside of Simmesport, Green Markets has learned. Port Commission President Tommy Maddis confirmed that two large liquid fertilizer storage tanks are currently being built for Helena, and hopes are that this development will encourage other such companies to locate here. “We’re in the process of putting them in now and should have them operating in October,” Maddis reported. He said one of the tanks is one million gallons and the other is a half million, but he wouldn’t say what other facilities are included in Helena’s plans and whether Helena’s decision would encourage others in the agriculture field to locate at the new port. “About six other businesses are interested,” Maddis told the local press. “They’re looking at the port as soon as we get it up and running.” The port is on 108 acres on the Atchafalaya River, an 18 ft. draft river in central Louisiana, with approximately 1,300 adjacent acres available for commercial development. The initial phase of development will cost $2.8 million, provided from a mix of local and state funds, with a major part of the infrastructure in the form of a truss walk being completed. The commission’s master plan, formulated several years ago, outlines a multi-purpose, four-phase development on 2,200 acres, including a 200-acre industrial park, port dock, and recreational area and boat ramp. It states that the location where the Atchafalaya River, Mississippi River, and Red River meet provides a convenient stopping point for barge traffic, with connections to major ports throughout the country. The Atchafalaya River route to the Gulf of Mexico is 300 miles less than traveling the Mississippi River through Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain