Iberia port tenants on ’19 fast tract

The Gulf Coast’s energy sector continues to be in a slump, but the Port of Iberia (La.) is seeing some tenants off to a fast start in 2019. “These guys are staying busy,” port executive director Craig Romero told the Daily Iberian. One of the most visible activities is the Bayou Companies pipeline coating facility, which has a contract to coat 1.8M feet of 36-inch pipe for a major pipeline project. The project is bringing tons of pipe via barge and railway to the port and traffic to the railhead at the Acadiana Regional Airport, where it is off-loaded and trucked to Bayou. The project brought a profit in the form of more than $400,000 in maintenance to the port’s railroad spur. That project is expected to keep the facility busy into 2020. Dynamic Industries’ fabrication facility is filling an order for 92 modules to be shipped to Pennsylvania for use in a polyethylene plant, and a supplemental order for 44 modular units going to Texas. The two orders will peak 450 workers employed. Local firms Omega, LQT and Berard Transportation will handle parts of the project. Custom Compression Systems is also busy, according to VP of Operations Joey Belfour. The company has been steadily supplying (up to 130 last year of) its skid-mounted compression systems to fields in Texas. CCS provides pressure for fracking activity across the region. More than 990 of an available 1,000 acres for lease at the port is already under contract. Activity should continue unabated through 2019, according to an optimistic Romero. (Source: Daily Iberian 01/20/19)