Germany-based Alter Logistics Company and Alter River Terminal, St. Paul, Minn., have started construction on a $24 million expansion at their Barge Channel Road facility in St. Paul. The project includes a new 40,000 st fertilizer warehouse, a stormwater retention installation, and an extensive rail track expansion, Alter said in a press release.
Alter’s current tenant, ADM Fertilizer of Minneapolis, Minn., will use the new warehouse under a long-term contract. The warehouse will have seven large storage bins for bulk products and three micro bins, plus a high-capacity blending/loadout system, according to company officials. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
Marcus Construction of Willmar, Minn., designed the new building and is the primary and general contractor for the new facility. Alter has also partnered with Sackett-Waconia for mechanical system design and equipment, as well as the existing terminal upgrade.
The facility will receive product from a new 800 st/hour barge unloading system and a 400 st/hour rail unloading system, and will feature storage bays for macro products as well as micro bins for specialty products. The company said the new barge receiving system will feed both the new facility and Alter’s existing facility on the site. Railcars will also be able to discharge into either building.
The new building’s loadout equipment reportedly utilizes dual in-floor conditioner/drag conveyors feeding bucket elevators, which in turn feeds direct to trucks or rail. The facility also incorporates Sackett-Waconia’s high speed “Precision Blending” system, with 250 st of overhead storage.
Alter is also in the process of finalizing plans for an extensive addition to their rail service capacity with about 4,400 feet of new track at the site. The St. Paul Port Authority helped secure funding from the Minnesota Department of Transportation to assist in the project. TKDA Engineering, an engineering firm in St. Paul, has also been involved in all aspects of the project and is serving in a supervisory role for the new building construction.
According to its website, Alter Logistics operates facilities in Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa, in addition to the St. Paul site. The company said it works with all major barge lines, trucking companies, heavy lift crane vendors, and container lines serving barge, truck, and rail modes of transportation at its intermodal terminals.
Earlier this year, Alter Logistics announced that it was planning a major investment in its St. Paul dock facility, which the company said would allow hundreds of additional barges to the site during shipping season.