SunCoke Energy Begins Barge Unloading At Convent, La.
SunCoke Energy Partners L.P. announced December 13 that it has begun offering barge unloading services at its Convent Marine Terminal (CMT) in combination with stevedoring and barge services provider Cooper Consolidated LLC.
The multi-year agreement between CMT and Cooper Consolidated provides for the use of Cooper Consolidated’s extensive floating crane fleet and its unique Louisiana Mid-Stream One transload system to efficiently unload coal, petroleum coke and other materials from barges at CMT’s dock. The companies recently demonstrated their combined capability by successfully unloading the first 30-barge shipment of coal bound for the export market.
The addition of barge unloading capabilities complements Convent’s existing rail and truck offerings, and provides the terminal with the ability to transload, blend and store a significantly broader array of materials going forward, the company said.
“We are excited to announce our alliance with Cooper Consolidated and the launch of our barge unloading service at CMT,” said Mike Hardesty, senior vice president-commercial operations, business development, terminals and international coke. “Through this agreement, CMT is positioned to offer a more flexible range of transport options to new and existing customers at the terminal. We continue to work toward driving $5 million to $10 million of additional earnings across our logistics portfolio over the next couple of years, and are confident that this capability will further differentiate CMT as a world-class terminal for both bulk and liquids shipments.”
CMT is the only bulk terminal in the region that provides direct rail access for ocean-going shipments. Convent has two independent shiploading systems, with its newest shiploader capable of accommodating cape-sized ocean vessels.
The company says that its location on the Lower Mississippi River, 1.5 million tons of ground storage and unique inbound and outbound capabilities provide a cost-effective option for transloading a range of bulk materials and liquids.
SunCoke Energy Partners L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that manufactures high-quality coke used in the blast furnace production of steel and provides export and domestic handling and/or mixing services of coal and other aggregates to the coke, coal, steel and electric utility industries. Its terminals have the collective capacity to mix and/or transload approximately 40 million tons of materials and store approximately 3 million tons annually.
