Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Three Texas seaports are awarded a combined $37 million in federal upgrade grants; Arcadia Cold Storage opens a Phoenix-area facility; an investment firm acquires California-based Source Logistics; and Fictiv opens a facility in Monterrey.
3 Texas seaports awarded combined $37M in federal upgrade grants
Three major seaports across Texas will receive almost $38 million in federal funding aimed at speeding up supply chain operations and improving trucking capacity.
The awards in Texas are part of $653 million in grants to upgrade and expand 41 coastal and inland ports announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday as part of the government’s annual round of funding under the Port Infrastructure Development Program.
Port Freeport, about 60 miles south of Houston along the Gulf of Mexico, will receive nearly $16 million to expand its Velasco Terminal.
The expansion includes the construction of a 36,900-square-foot cross-dock warehouse and a new terminal access truck gate.
“The cross-dock facility will enable cargo to be unloaded, sorted, and loaded onto trucks without interfering with other terminal traffic, reducing congestion,” DOT said in a news release. “The warehouse design improves safety by incorporating wider maneuvering, loading, and aisle-way space for forklifts, which will reduce hazards for forklift operators and warehouse workers. The new truck gate will reduce truck turn times to improve productivity and enhance safety by adding truck lanes off the adjacent roadway.”
In June, Port Freeport completed the expansion of its Velasco Container Terminal, aiming to transform the port into a regional shipping hub by accommodating larger container and tanker vessels, officials said.
Port Freeport is one of the leading exporters of crude oil and natural gas liquids in the country. More than 1,189 vessels called Port Freeport in 2022, transporting 31.2 million tons of freight.
In addition to the expansion of its Velasco Terminal facilities, the port is undergoing a widening and deepening project for the Port Freeport Ship Channel. The $295 million project, of which the federal government is chipping in $165 million, includes deepening the Freeport channel from a depth of 51 feet to 56 feet. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
In Baytown, about 26 miles east of Houston, the Cedar Port Industrial Park will receive $10.9 million to expand the dock and channel near the facility, while also adding a heavy-haul road connecting the barge dock to the park’s tenant area.
Spanning 15,000 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, Cedar Port Industrial Park is one of the largest master-planned rail-and-barge-served industrial facilities in the U.S.
The Port of Bay City will receive $9.9 million for its West Basin Bulkhead Project, which will construct a 400-foot-long bulkhead and an associated paved cargo dock and loop road for truck access. The port is located about 80 miles southeast of Houston along the Gulf of Mexico.
Arcadia Cold Storage opens Phoenix-area facility
Arcadia Cold Storage and Logistics recently opened a 293,000-square-foot temperature-controlled facility near Phoenix.
The cold storage facility offers a convertible freezer and logistics center with 40,500 pallet positions designed to support a combination of regional distribution, import export activity and high-volume throughput handling services.
The site will serve as a hub for the Southwest, with access to metropolitan markets in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
“The facility represents our westernmost site to date and will satisfy our customers’ need for a well-designed and operated building to help manage their product storage and handling requirements,” Arcadia Cold CEO Chris Hughes said in a news release.
Atlanta-based Arcadia Cold Storage and Logistics also has cold chain centers in Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Investment firm acquires California-based Source Logistics
New York-based Palladium Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in Source Logistics, a Montebello, California-based provider of warehousing, distribution and third-party logistics services to the consumer goods sector, with a focus on Hispanic food and beverage brands.
Terms of the financial transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1999, Source Logistics serves its customers from 12 facilities across the country, including in California, Texas, New Jersey and Oregon. The company imports products from Mexico, along with Central and South America.
Officials for Palladium said the investment in Source Logistics broadens their reach in the Mexican food and beverage value chain. Palladium is an investment firm with more than 200 companies in its portfolio.
“Our firm has invested over $1.3 billion in the U.S. Hispanic market across consumer, healthcare, services and industrial sectors,” Daniel Ilundain, co-head of Palladium’s flagship funds, said in a news release. “Source Logistics represents Palladium’s 20th platform investment addressing this rapidly growing demographic that accounts for $3.2 trillion in gross domestic product.”
Fictiv opens custom manufacturing hub in Monterrey
Fictiv, an operating system for custom manufacturing, recently opened a facility in Monterrey, Mexico, aiming to offer more options for on-demand manufacturing services across North America.
The manufacturing hub in Monterrey provides customers with added manufacturing capacity, supply chain options and agility in meeting product development needs, officials said.
“Mexico is an incredibly exciting region for manufacturing growth, full of untapped potential,” Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, said in a news release. “We’re thrilled to leverage our digital platform and supply chain management excellence to connect our U.S. customers with Mexico’s premier manufacturing talent and vice versa.”
In addition to Mexico, Fictiv also has operations in the U.S., China and India. San Francisco-based Fictiv was founded in 2013. The company has manufactured more than 20 million parts for both early-stage companies and large enterprises.
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