WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today celebrated an $8.7 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to improve infrastructure at the Port of Rosedale. The grant was issued by the Maritime Administration through the Port Infrastructure Development Program.

“This is great news for Mississippi and the Port of Rosedale,” Wicker said. “This funding will support ongoing work to expand capacity and spur economic development. Multimodal improvements like this are the future of transportation along the Mississippi River.”

“The capacity improvements supported by this grant will help create more certainty for Delta agriculture producers and industries that rely on the Rosedale port to ship and receive supplies efficiently. I look forward to continuing to support these upgrades,” said Hyde-Smith, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

The project includes relocation and reconstruction of an inbound loading conveyor and the rehabilitation of an outbound conveyor on a new tower rather than a floating platform. The new components will be used to transload between barges, trucks, and storage, and they will be built with the capability to transload cargo between barges and rail once rail service is restored.

The conveyors currently face capacity limitations and are unable to effectively handle commodities.

The grant funding will help complete the first two phases of a three-part multi-modal expansion project at the port.