By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
In 2020, the Port of Chehalis in Washington state completed a rail spur, marking a milestone for the Southwest Washington Grain Project.
Shippers now use the track to transload malting barley for movements to Great Western Malting in Vancouver, Washington.
It’s taken three years, but the project’s next and major phase — a new grain storage and transload facility to be built along the spur — now is closer to reaching the construction stage. The facility will help support and develop southwest Washington’s grain industry and provide barley farmers access to more markets, port officials believe.
One of 75 public port districts in Washington, the Port of Chehalis is located inland along the Chehalis Basin in Lewis County, about 88 miles from both Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Established in 1986, it’s adjacent to Interstate 5, the main north-south Pacific Coast interstate.
BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad serve the port, which also is situated within 60 miles of deepwater ports in Kalama, Longview, Olympia, Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington. The Class Is reach Chehalis via north-south lines running between Tacoma and Vancouver.
In August, the port learned it will receive a $3.14 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to build a storage and rail transload facility to store, load, unload and transport more grain. The grant will be matched with $1.8 million in state and local funds.
The port created a graphic for its social media channels to tout the U.S. Economic Development Administration grant that will help fund the grain storage/transload facility. Port of ChehalisTo date, a construction timeline hasn’t been developed for the facility, says Port of Chehalis CEO Lindsey Senter.
“Currently, we are working on the required paperwork for the EDA,” she says, adding that the port is working with the design engineers on a project outline and timeline.
The project is expected to generate up to $3 million in economic activity annually and attract $3.4 million in private investments for the region. Over the next nine years, the facility is projected to inject $18 million into the local economy.
Lewis County has a long agriculture heritage — some farms in the area are run by third- or fourth-generation farmers. For many years, local farmers and crop growers have dealt with flooding and natural disasters, loss of grain processing facilities, and a lack of infrastructure to store and transport crops.
In response to those challenges, regional producers formed the Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative, which currently has more than 20 members. The co-op worked with the port to develop the Southwest Washington Grain Project.
In 2019, they obtained $800,000 from the county to install the rail spur on the port’s property. A year later, they were awarded $1.75 million through the state capital budget for the storage and rail transload facility, which will feature upright bins and conveyors for loading and unloading grain.
Once completed, the storage/transload facility will bolster regional food systems security and empower the region’s grain producers to tap into regional, national and international markets, port officials say.
Operating at 75% capacity, the facility is anticipated to generate about $230,000 in annual revenue through transfer and storage fees.
For now, regional grain farmers can access a new storage facility and food hub on port land in Chehalis. The cooperative recently entered into a lease agreement with the port to use one of its properties as the facility/hub, which previously was located at the Port of Olympia.
Port of Chehalis commissioners approved the lease agreement in September.
