The North Carolina State Ports Authority has announced it is expanding capabilities to better support the North Carolina agriculture industry through a partnership with Scoular.

North Carolina Ports on Tuesday received approval from the North Carolina Council of State for a land lease to develop an agricultural transload facility on the Port of Wilmington. Council of State approved the long-term lease for Scoular to develop an at-port facility that will receive, store and load agricultural products.

“We are excited to work with Scoular, a company that has more than a century of experience in the agriculture industry, to expand our business offerings to better serve the North Carolina agriculture community,” said Brian E. Clark, Executive Director, North Carolina Ports.

“Scoular looks forward to partnering with the North Carolina State Ports Authority on its exciting journey of growth that brings new agricultural markets to North Carolina farmers. Equally exciting for Scoular is working with our steamship line partners in adding another export location within their container network to serve our joint global customers of feed and food products,” said Doug Grennan, Vice President and General Manager of Select Global Grains and Oilseeds of the Omaha, Neb. based Scoular.

Scoular is developing a transload operation on the Port of Wilmington’s General Cargo Terminal. The facility will be used to transfer bulk agricultural products to containers for export on ocean-going vessels.

“Scoular is one of the top exporters of ag related products in containers from the United States. This investment will aid in opening new export markets around the globe for North Carolina farmers,” added Clark.

The Scoular Company anticipates breaking ground on the transload facility in the coming months with an anticipated completion date this summer.