Port Authority Plans Growth - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Port Authority Plans Growth

The Port of North Dakota has plans for major growth northeast of Minot.
Port Services of North Dakota operates the port and intends to expand two miles to the north of its current location.

The massive expansion is planned over the next few years and will take the employment at the Port from the current 72 employees to more than one thousand.
The expansion includes areas where other companies will be able to locate to use the rail and highway access of the property.
In addition, the Port will be making large increases in its ability to move containers in and out of the region, and to load and unload oil products including crude oil for shipment to refineries.

(Greg Johnson, Port Services of ND) "We'll be hiring more people and continue hiring on a daily basis as we go through our stack of applications.  A goal is in three to four years, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 employees will be working out here."

The Port's combination of container business - shipping ag-related products into and out of the region - and oil shipping has caught the attention of US Senate candidate Rick Berg.  The Republican visited the Port to get a first-hand look at the current operation, and expansion plans.

(Rep. Rick Berg, -R- Candidate for US Senate) "The bottom line is we need to get our economy going and one of the bright spots is agriculture and energy and that's what they're doing here, taking energy product to and from this region, but also ag products."

The expansion of the Port of North Dakota takes advantage of the new bridge and 55th Street bypass project that in under construction now.