The Mississippi State Port Authority and Yilport Holding have executed a letter of intent (LOI) to evaluate a private-public partnership (PPP) to upgrade the Port of Gulfport in Mississippi.
As the port's US$570 million restoration project nears completion, the LOI allows due diligence and negotiations to be held on future works.
The Army Corps of Engineers in November released the record of decision for the port expansion project, which paves the way for a 114.1-hectare dredge and fill program for further expansion of the port's operations.
Port Executive Director Jonathan Daniels said the PPP could lead to a significant investment in additional infrastructure.
Yilport, which has operations in 49 countries on four continents, aims to become of the world's top 10 largest container terminal operators by 2025.
Gulfport would be its first North American terminal investment.
Yilport Holding Chairman Robert Yuksel Yildirim said the company was committed to upgrade and improve terminal productivity and services to make Gulfport the most competitive port in that region.
"We see a great potential to feed volume particularly refrigerated goods to Gulfport from Yilport terminals in Ecuador and Peru and Latin America to reach Midwest USA," said Mr Yildirim.
"There is further potential in leveraging the company's trading subsidiary to handle containerised liquid and bulk products out of the US Gulf Coast region for small and medium-sized shippers."
Mr Yildirim also owns a 24 per cent stake in CMA CGM Group, the third largest container shipping company in the world.