How a $361,669 state rail grant will benefit this New Bedford Port seafood business

NEW BEDFORD — A $361,669 state rail grant will help Ice Cube Cold Storage Maritime improve its seafood business by increasing freight-train access, fund a safer dock's construction — and add five new jobs.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Mayor Jon Mitchell, and state Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, joined company officials in celebrating the grant at the plant's 276 MacArthur Drive Port site Thursday morning.

Scott Hutchens, Ice Cube Cold Storage & Logistics vice president, said, "This is a really exciting moment for our company and for the city of New Bedford."

He said the cold storage, fish processing business employs over 500 people in New Bedford and Fall River as Ice Cube Cold Storage, including its manufacturing and processing business, Raw Seafoods, over 500,000 square feet in total facility space.

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"My brother (Jason) and I are both New Bedford Whalers. We started our business here in 1998, moved to Fall River in 2006, and with the acquisition of Ice Cube Cold Storage Maritime, we moved back to our hometown last year," he said.

The grant is going to help the New Bedford facility rebuiild its docking area. "Right now it's a covered dock that's not very suitable for winter in New England. So with these funds we'll be able to build out a new enclosed, refrigerated dock space that's going to make our facility a lot safer for our people to work in and a lot more efficient to work in throughout the summer months."

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The improvements to its rail spur will also allow the company to "tremendously increase our rail-car volume. When we acquired the facility last year in 2021 we received 21 rail cars during the entire year. This is going to give us the ability to receive between 100 and 200 rail cars in 2023."

That will eliminate in the neighborhood of 400 truck trips per year, which benefits the environment as well as increases efficiency, he said.

The rail improvements will also benefit other southeastern Massachusetts businesses, he added, by cutting into trucking expenses.

"Rail carring product from the West Coast, primarily sockeye salmon, coho salmon, cod and pollock, on rail vs. on a truck allows us to do it more efficiently and more cost effectively, which makes us more competitive in our sales all over the country," he said.

Hutchens added, "Last but not least we're going to create more local jobs here in the city of New Bedford. And I have to say another beautiful aspect of the project is there will be little or no environmental impact with what we have to do to make this a success."

State Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, said, "Here we have a family business at Ice Cube that really understood the importance of being in New Bedford — and the access to rail that they're going to have going forward."

Cabral said part of the reason rail will become more and more important to New Bedford and its waterfront is the investment made in South Coast rail, scheduled to open two platform stations in the city by the end of 2023. Voters will be asked to OK designating the city as an MBTA community in a referendum at the Nov. 8 election so the platforms can open on time. It will state: "Shall this City be added to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority?"

Cabral said, "Without South Coast rail, freight rail would not be possible either. The rail that was there on the old tracks couldn't do more than 10 miles and hour. That's not cost effective. That's not efficient. The reason we're going to actually be able to use rail to bring products in and move products out is because of that investment."

He added, "We're going to have passenger service and we have improved freight service, as well, which will allow places like Ice Cube and others on the waterfront to become more cost efficient, and cost effective - and at the same time really have a climate-change impact."

MassDOT Rail and Transit Administrator Meredith Slesinger said the Ice Cube grant was one of seven totalling more than $3 million being awarded on the day across the state through the Industrial Rail Access Program to fund rail infrastructure improvements.

Grant recipients must match public grant funds with private funds totaling at least 40% of a project’s total cost.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said, "I love this program. It is an undersized asset that the commonwealth has."

She added it enhances rail with upgrades and infrastructure improvements that help businesses like Ice Cube Maritime grow.

At the same time, it cuts down on truck traffic and benefits the environment, she said. The seven grants awarded Thursday will eliminate over 25,000 truck trips annually, she said.

Mitchell noted the vibrancy of New Bedford's Port, from its status as the largest commercial fishing port in the United States, to its active cargo and recreational components, to its place as "the launching pad of the American off shore wind industry" next year.

"What this means for us is potential," Mitchell said. "It's opportunity, and we can't take advantage of opportunities if we don't have the pieces in place — the right workforce, the political commitment, great private sector partners. But also, we need effective infrastructure. Useful infrastructure, relevant infrastructure makes ports go."

The other grants included:

• Old Boston Road Recycling ($500,000): The grant will support new track construction at a recycling facility in Wilbraham. The additional track will increase reliability and the volume of freight rail shipments,  eliminating 10,000 truck trips annually.

• Arrowhead Environmental Partners ($500,000): The grant will support renovations to the company’s yard in Ayer, which will increase reliability and volume of freight rail shipments, eliminating 5,600 truck trips annually, and creating four jobs.

• Cavossa Disposal Corporation ($413,326): The grant will help modernize the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station in Sandwich, which will increase the volume of freight rail shipments, eliminate 2,000 truck trips annually, and create five jobs.

• Lehigh Cement Company LLC ($500,000): The grant will help upgrade the rail car unloading systems in Palmer, which will increase volume of freight rail shipments and eliminate 925 truck trips annually.

• CSX ($499,000): The grant will support the Everett Coke Works Rehabilitation Project, which will aid the continued use of freight rail service to shippers in Everett and increase both the reliability and volume of freight rail shipments, eliminating 1,350 truck trips annually.

• Broco Energy ($334,289): The grant will support improvements to the 81 Hale St. Yard rail facilities in Haverhill, which will increase the volume of freight rail shipments and eliminate 3,200 truck trips annually.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: State rail grant to benefit New Bedford Port seafood firm, add 5 jobs