A&R Logistics and Port Freeport expand export capacity

Third-party logistics provider (3PL) A&R Logistics Inc. will collaborate with Port Freeport, Texas, to open an export supply chain facility for the U.S. plastic resin industry, the company said today.

The partners will help establish a transportation and plastics packaging facility within Port Freeport to handle the anticipated significant increase in export plastic resins, especially to Latin American destinations, according to Louisville, Ky.-based A&R Logistics.

The deal marks A&R's second recent project supporting the resin export supply chain, following the announcement on July 11 of a venture with the Port of Savannah, in Georgia.

"Approximately $50 billion is expected to be invested in the U.S. over the next 10 years by the plastics industry to expand production capacity. Much of the initial production is targeted at Central and South America," Dan Jaworski, A&R's senior vice president for sales and marketing, said in a statement. "We are very pleased to partner with Port Freeport to offer an immediate solution to the shipper community. The Freeport, TX facility is expected to be up and running in the third quarter of 2017."

Port Freeport supports an estimated 800 vessel calls and 135,000 trucks per year, with petroleum accounting for 21 million of the facility's 24 million total tons for 2014 (the most recent year for which statistics were provided).