Port of Newport pursues grants, new business at terminal

The Port of Newport Board of Commissioners has put its support behind a grant application that the organization’s management hopes will spur more diverse business to the port’s International Terminal.

Improvements to nine acres of land at the terminal that is currently undeveloped, as well as the purchase of two log handlers, is estimated to cost $4.3 million. The port’s 20 percent match would amount to $861,000, and the rest would be covered by the grant, if the application is successful. The port had already budgeted $300,000 for the improvements to the undeveloped nine acres.