Atlanta-based Americold announced plans to build a 150,000-square-foot facility on 6.3 acres of land adjacent to the International Marine Terminal in Portland, Maine.

“Americold has been a fixture in the local community for more than 60 years, and this project solidifies our commitment to the city, the port and the state,” says Fred Boehler, president and COO of Americold. “We’re excited about the opportunity to add a brand new state-of-the-art showpiece building to the area and be a part of the future of the Port of Portland. We plan to leverage our world-class ‘design, build and operate’ expertise to create a world-class facility to bring new business to Portland, while maintaining our existing relationships with local seafood companies, food producers and retailers.”

Americold will partner with the Maine Port Authority to generate new opportunities for the port, attracting business currently served at other ports and accommodating increased local demand by leveraging the site’s access to rail and road networks.

Eimskip, a global temperature-controlled shipping line based in Iceland, established the Port of Portland as its primary U.S. port of call and partnered with Americold on the development. 

“We’re very pleased with the award and the opportunity to work with Americold and the Maine Port Authority to provide New England with the most advanced cold storage and transportation options on the east coast,” adds Larus Isfeld, managing director of Eimskip USA.

Eimskip will become an anchor tenant and is considering relocating its Virginia Beach, Va., headquarters to the new facility once completed. Together, Americold and Eimskip will offer the market full temperature-controlled supply chain capability with multi-model transportation (rail, ocean, over-the-road), anchored by Americold’s state-of-the-art facility.

“New England is in need of port-based, temperature-controlled transportation and storage solutions outside of Boston. Americold’s new facility will bring the latest in cold chain innovation right to our region’s doorstep, significantly reducing transportation times and costs associated with trucking down to Boston,” says John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority.

Options for automation, sustainable operations and 24/7 services are under consideration. The new site will provide work for approximately 200 personnel during construction and up to 30 full-time jobs once in operation.

The groundbreaking is expected to occur in the latter half of 2016 with operations commencing within a year.