New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Mayor Jon Mitchell will welcome Lt. Governor Timothy Murray to the Port of New Bedford for a tour of the site of the future Marine Commerce Terminal, a facility that will support the installation of offshore wind energy projects.
The Port of New Bedford is the Commonwealth’s key strategic asset in the intensifying competition among Northeast states to secure a share of the burgeoning offshore wind energy industry. With fully 25% of the nation’s wind energy resources located in an area just south of Martha’s Vineyard, New Bedford is ideally geographically positioned to out-compete rival Northeast locations stretching from Rhode Island to Maryland. As the state’s leading industrialized port outside of Boston, New Bedford boasts the extensive deepwater access, numerous waterfront commercial parcels, and extensive interstate highway connections, required by the offshore wind energy industry.
For these reasons, the City has been officially designated as the staging area for the nation’s first offshore wind energy project. The Marine Terminal, a $35 million port facility now in its final environmental permitting phase, will host the staging and assembly operations for offshore wind turbine components and cabling. Once operations are underway, the Terminal will host 130 permanent new jobs and boost household income in Bristol County, including New Bedford, by nearly $15 million annually. The Terminal project will also establish New Bedford as a leading multi-modal freight/short-sea shipping center. Short-sea shipping at the Terminal is projected to create 800 jobs in the region and generate $117 million in annual economic activity.
The Lt. Governor will visit the Gifford Street Boat Ramp Parking Lot at 10 am, the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts (10:45 am, 1285 Acushnet Avenue), as well as tour the UMass Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology (12:15 pm, 706 South Rodney French Boulevard).
