September 1, 2015 — The world’s largest cold-storage company has been chosen to build a modern refrigerated warehouse on the Portland waterfront, providing the port with a critical missing element to compete with larger, more congested ports on the Eastern Seaboard.

The state will lease a 6.3-acre site to Americold, which will design the warehouse, fund its construction and operate it. The project is part of a state-led effort to make the port more competitive with other ports and to boost Maine’s seafood, agriculture, and food and beverage industries.

The Maine Port Authority announced Monday that Americold Logistics LLC won the bid to develop the site, located adjacent to the expanded International Marine Terminal on West Commercial Street. The proposed cost of the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2017, was not disclosed.

Americold already operates a 63-year-old cold-storage warehouse on Read Street in Portland. Company officials say they’re evaluating whether to close that outmoded facility or keep it open for overflow and long-term storage. Americold is partnering on the project with Eimskip, the Icelandic shipping company that made Portland its North American headquarters in 2013. Eimskip will be both an investor and an anchor tenant.

There is currently a shortage of cold-storage warehouse space in Maine, prompting many of the state’s food producers and processors to ship their products out of state for storage.

Eimskip primarily ships frozen fish from Europe to the United States through Portland. While Eimskip now stores some of its imported seafood at the Americold facility on Read Street, the company trucks most of its fish to cold-storage warehouses in the Boston area.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald