news

By Joselyn King
Wheeling Intelligencer
Published May 29, 2012

MPR Supply Chain Solutions in Bellaire needs the former Bellaire Armory property to expand its transloading business, and the sale of the property by the federal government to the Belmont County Port Authority for $205,000 could come in the next month.

Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Bill Johnson, both R-Ohio, announced last week they are pushing the General Services Administration to speed up the sale of the abandoned federal property to the Belmont County Port Authority.

Larry Merry, director of the port authority, said the county already has sent the federal government a down payment on the property of $20,500 - representing 10 percent of the $205,000 the county will pay for the property.

"The federal government is presently preparing the deed - but it's a long drawn-out process," Merry said. "I will be anxious to see the deed.

"We have been led to believe the sale will come in the next two to three weeks."

MPR is located in the Bellaire Industrial Park next to the former Bellaire Armory. The company wants to tap on to the existing railway through the park, and bring tracks across the former Bellaire Armory property, said David A. Humphreys, vice president and COO of MPR. The line would bring freight behind their building and to their loading docks at the Ohio River.

MPR already has begun modifications to their loading harbor, he added.

The company specializes in facilitating the transport of wire rod coils across the nation and in Canada, and he expects business could increase as a natural gas boom in the Ohio Valley.

"There is going to be a lot of sand ... a lot of pipe ... brought into the area," he said. "Right now, a lot of this stuff is being trucked, but you are going to see a lot more of it coming by rail and by barge."

And MPR will be able to provide whichever transportation service the customer wants, he continued.

"They want to bring it by rail then truck - or barge, then rail then truck - we can arrange transportation services from origin to destination," Humphreys explained.

The company presently employs 35, but Humphreys said the company has promised to increase the number to at least 73 through the expansion.

"We hope for more," he said. "There could be spin off from this."

Humphrey and Rick Frio, president and CEO of MPR, added the Pittsburgh area is the second largest inland port in the nation, with St. Louis being the largest. The Ohio Valley, meanwhile, is perfectly situated for shipping, they continued, as it has ample access to rail, highway and water transportation.

They noted their company should make the area more attractive for businesses, who will find it cheaper and more convenient to locate their operations closer to a shipping point of origin.

"Larry Merry has told us we will fill his industrial park in Barnesville," Frio said.