Oct. 1—Three new grain silos are now standing at the Southwest Washington Grain Project construction site as building continues, according to Port of Chehalis Operations Manager William “Bill” Teitzel.
The Southwest Washington Grain Project aims to create a public grain storage facility where farmers can easily load their crops onto train cars.
Ground was broken on the Maurin Road construction site back in April, and Teitzel gave a construction progress update during the Port of Chehalis commissioners’ regular meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Three new smaller grain silos have recently gone up, along with one of three large planned storage silos. Teitzel stated that construction of a tower for a grain elevator on the site was scheduled to start this week as well and work was on schedule, “for the most part.”
“We’re running into a little bit of (delays) from the manufacturer of the silos, it is kind of dragging us back a little bit,” Teitzel said.
The Southwest Washington Grain Project is a collaborative project between multiple partners including the Port of Chehalis, Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative and Northwest Agricultural Business Center along with Washington State Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Once completed, port staff expect the facility to have the capacity to store over 12,000 bushels of grain across multiple storage silos, along with a grain elevator capable of transferring grain directly into rail cars at an estimated rate of 7,500 bushels per hour.
To learn more about the Southwest Washington Grain Project, read The Chronicle’s coverage at https://tinyurl.com/52sx6av3.
