State awards Port of Oswego $15M in funding for export center

OSWEGO, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced $15 million in state funding for the construction of the Central New York Agriculture Export Center at the Port of Oswego.

The funding will support the construction of a new storage dome, a storage silo, a tunnel and belt conveyor system, Cuomo’s office said in a news release. It’ll also help pay for a control center and a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sampling laboratory for agricultural products.

The port handles more than 1 million tons of imports and exports annually by cargo ships.

Agricultural products, including corn and soybeans, are one of the “fastest growing” commodities exported from the Central New York region around the world, Cuomo’s office said. This funding will restore the port’s “full functionality” and help make the region “more globally competitive” by providing Central New York agribusinesses access to world export markets for less than they would spend to truck commodities to other seaports.

“This investment is crucial to the growing agricultural business not only at the Port but all of Central New York. The Port is looking forward to the positive economic impact, the boost in job creation, and to supporting New York farmers,” William Scriber, executive director of the Port of Oswego Authority, said in the release.

The Port of Oswego funding is part of the governor’s $65 million commitment to “modernizing and enhancing” the economic competitiveness of the state’s Upstate ports.

Projects previously awarded funding under this initiative include $15 million in dedicated state funding to the Capital Region for reconstruction of a portion of the wharf at the south end of the Port of Albany; $10 million to the North Country region to extend the wharf at the Port of Ogdensburg to accommodate larger cargo ships; and $21 million towards construction of the Central New York Region’s first inland port in the town of DeWitt.

Schumer reaction

For years, the Port of Oswego’s inability to export grain was a “lost opportunity” for upstate New York’s farmers, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) said in a Monday statement.

“That is why over the past several years I worked to secure necessary approvals from the USDA so the Port of Oswego could begin exporting New York ag products all over the world,” he said. “Despite a record number of exports from Oswego last year, the port was forced to repeatedly seek a waiver from USDA because it lacked certain equipment, which consistently put shipments at risk. This investment will ensure that waiver is no longer necessary, meaning the Port of Oswego and New York farmers will not have to cut through bureaucratic red tape each time they seek to access much-needed export markets.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com