EASTPORT — Members of the Eastport Port Authority have begun their search for a new port director to replace Brian Nutter, who resigned his position to become manager of the Sears Island Cargo Terminal Project.

Port officials advertised the position last week, and they have received 17 applications, some from as far away as Texas. All the applicants are men, mostly from Maine.

Mary Follis, a member of the port authority’s board of directors, said Monday that the position had been advertised in general newspapers and in the Journal of Commerce.

“We are looking for a very energetic person. … Someone who is a salesperson. We want someone who can see our vision of what the port of Eastport can be and is willing to go out there and sell that idea to other people and potential customers,” she said.

The vision established by the directors, she said, was that the port was a critical part of Maine’s three-port strategy, which includes ports at Sears Island and Portland.

During the past four years, Nutter worked on the development of a new $20 million port at Estes Head. Several weeks ago, Nutter met with members of the Legislature when they toured Washington County, and he said most were receptive to the idea of a new port in Eastport.

In 1993, Maine voters approved a $2 million bond issue that paid for the engineering of the new port. All permits are in hand, and the engineering phase of the new port is drawing to a close. That cost came in at only $1.4 million. The balance of the funds, Nutter said, would be set aside for site development work.

Current cost estimates show that an additional $18 million will be needed to complete the project: $12.5 million to build a new pile-supported cargo pier and $5.5 million to develop land-based facilities.

Follis said she believed the port would provide economic opportunities for both Aroostook and Washington counties.

“Let’s focus on the blueberry industry. Blueberries are picked in Washington County, they are frozen and trucked to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they are stored. Later they are trucked from Halifax back to Maine where they are processed, then they are trucked back to Halifax where they are shipped,” she said.

Follis said that business could remain in Washington County.

“There are so many opportunities in just export products that already are being produced in Maine, but are being shipped out of Halifax or Montreal, Canada. We feel that our port is a viable option for shippers, rather than sending their cargo to Canada,” she said.

Nutter, who was only the port’s second director, did a good job of walking the port through the necessary permitting project. Follis said the effort to develop the new port would continue regardless of who the port director was.

Interested applicants for the position of port director, must have their resume, cover letter and salary requirements at the port office by 5 p.m. Friday, March 3. Follis said the directors would review the applications and then invite several top applicants for an interview.