Consultant extols Sears Island port potential

SEARSPORT – Sears Island has the potential to become a world-class container port for ships from all over the world, management consultant Robert W. Goethe told the Sears Island Joint Use Planning Committee on Thursday.

Goethe and Pamy J.S. Arora, executive vice president of The Cornell Group Inc., of Fairfax, Va., outlined their firm’s 110-page study in a 90-minute presentation to the committee. Done at the behest of the Maine Port Authority of the Department of Transportation, the study finds that there is a large, market-driven opportunity to develop a new container terminal at Searsport that would provide service to Maine and other markets, creating a “profound positive economic impact.”

“The vision that we recommend is to establish and operate a viable port system to serve Maine and regional shipping, while producing a positive economic impact on the state’s economy, with at least one world-class container port that will be a major port of call for vessels from all world areas,” said Goethe.

The report findings are recommendations only, however, said Duane A. Scott of the Bureau of Planning of the Maine Department of Transportation.

“The report will be used to help make informed decisions with respect to port development, based on the unique circumstances of Maine,” Scott said. “Importantly, the Port Authority Board remains committed to the state’s three-port strategy and recognizes the state’s commitment to the Sears Island agreement and Joint Use Planning Initiative.”

Container port capacity in the North Atlantic, which Goethe defined as the region from Virginia to Halifax, Nova Scotia, cannot keep up with the demand that is expected to grow from 10 million “20-foot equivalent unit” containers in 2007, to 17.8 million containers by 2015.

Meanwhile, the limited seaport space in Maine is making businesses in the state noncompetitive overseas and making citizens pay more for their goods, said Arora.

“Look at the clothes you’re wearing,” he said to the group. “Two-thirds were shipped through a port from overseas,” he added to emphasize the significance of international shipping in a global economy.

The cost of developing a Sears Island container port is estimated at $194 million. The Cornell Group projects that 2,205 jobs would be created, and $5.6 million in taxes generated. Opportunities would exist for port operators, government agencies handling customs, truckers, railroads, ship agents, inland warehouse operators and manufacturers selling products abroad.

Robert C. Grindrod, president and CEO of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, is a member of the committee who sees an opportunity for his company. The freight railroad line starts at Mack Point in Searsport, goes to Brownville and Van Buren and continues across Canada to Montreal.

“A lot of the cargo would get in and out by rail,” he said of inland connections to the port. “Short hauls would be handled by trucks.”

The Joint Use Planning Committee was formed in April under an agreement by the Sears Island Planning Initiative Committee, under the auspices of the Department Conservation. The committee includes 40-plus stakeholders, with representatives of groups wanting to preserve the entire 941-acre island, and others wanting to develop a port on the parcel’s western shore.

While the planning committee has come to terms on several key issues, including conserving 600 acres and setting aside 341 acres for a port, several tasks remain for the group.

The committee on Tuesday looked at mapping overlays of the island showing topography, cultural resources, shellfish habitats, coastal bluffs for stability, possible trails, and tide lines.

The group will put together a description for the Dec. 7 meeting for a conservation easement holder, which committee member Scott Dickerson, executive director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust in Camden, defined as someone who monitors and enforces restrictions of a conservation easement.

Contact John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority, for more information about the study at 624-3564 or by e-mail at john.h.henshaw@maine.gov.

A full copy of the report can be found at: http://www.maineports.com/PortStrategyStudy.html.