Saturday, September 5, 2020

Lowndes County Port goes 'big'

The word of the day at the Lowndes County (Miss.) Port was "big".  Port Authority Director Will Sanders, along with port board members, Tenn-Tom Waterway and Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the shadow of its new 110-ton Liebherr material handler. The “big” equipment came courtesy of a “big” grant from MDOT and will have a “big” impact on port operations, Sanders said. "Adding this material handler to our inventory will cut down on our off-loading time and increase production dramatically," Sanders told the Columbus Dispatch. It was the largest single grant in the port's history. The $1.22M material loader was purchased through a $739,000 MDOT grant with the port paying the balance. Operators are still in the familiarization phase of the German-built loader, but off-loading times have already been cut dramatically from seven to four hours to off-load a barge of rocks, according to Sanders. Use of the equipment is conducted by Logistic Services Inc. under a port contract. LSI uses the material loader to load and off-load bulk cargo, in particular limestone, coal, rip-rap and other industrial-use materials. (Source: Columbus Dispatch 09/04/20)

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