Petrochemical firm Braskem is planning to open a new global export hub at the Port of Charleston in Charleston, SC that will increase the company’s packaging, warehousing, and export shipping capabilities, the company announced in a release Monday. The site will support Braskem’s polypropylene (PP) production assets in the US. 

Slated to reach completion in the third quarter of this year, Braskem’s Global Export Hub in Charleston will be capable of handling shipments of up to 450 million lb/yr of polypropylene and specialty polymers. The products will be exported to Braskem customers across the globe. 

“The build out of our new Global Export Hub in South Carolina allows us to leverage our feedstock advantaged, polymer production assets in the US Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, to best meet our international clients’ needs,” Mark Nikolich, chief executive officer of Braskem America, said in a statement. “With excellent access to national rail and highway networks, this important new logistics and distribution facility in the South Carolina port region significantly enhances Braskem America’s international export capacity.”

The Port of Charleston is served by more than 20 ocean carriers that export products to more than 150 countries, as well as daily express intermodal and merchandise rail services. Braskem said the new export hub is slated to come on line at the same time as its new polypropylene production line in LaPorte, TX starts operations. 

“The polymer resins boom in the Gulf Coast is bringing new cargo to the Southeast,” S.C. Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome said in the release. “Braskem selected the Port of Charleston as their East Coast load port due to our market’s unfettered resin export capacity, knowledge of the petrochemical industry, and efficiently run port terminals.”

Frontier Logistics will build and lease the facility to Braskem and provide services under a five-year agreement. 

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