With winter far off, salt deliveries have begun

Longshoremen at State Pier are working to offload the fourth ship carrying the mineral into port in the last 18 months

New London — Piles of salt in July? Longshoremen at State Pier are working to offload about 38,000 metric tons of salt from the Singapore-flagged bulk carrier Strategic Entity, which arrived to the city’s deep-water port on Monday.

This is the fourth ship carrying salt — totaling about 160,000 metric tons over the four separate hauls — that Southport-based MT Maritime Management USA has brought into the city’s port since deliveries of the mineral began at the pier a year and a half ago.

Dan Schildt, vice president of MT Maritime Management USA, the commercial manager for the Strategic Entity, said the company is excited to continue these shipments, “ensuring that Connecticut always has a good flow of salt for the winter.”

New London’s port has a particular significance for Schildt, who grew up in Waterford and would fish on the Thames River with his grandfather. From a window in the captain’s office on the Strategic Entity, he pointed to where his grandfather’s fishing boat used to be docked.

Schildt described New London’s port as being “lackluster” in the past, saying he’s watched the terminal sit empty too many times and is proud to be contributing to its development.

Salt hadn’t come into New London’s port for about 15 years until 2014. That’s when Steve Farrelly, owner of DRVN Enterprises of Wethersfield, began operating his salt distribution business through a contract with Logistec, the port operator for the pier. Farrelly’s business supplies rock salt mixed with calcium chloride and lignin, an organic tree extract, as well as pure rock salt imported from Egypt, which is where the latest shipment came from.

It was a relatively smooth ride for the crew of 22, who mainly hail from India and Sri Lanka, from Egypt through the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to New London, said Tushar Kinikar, the captain of the Strategic Entity.

The vessel will next go to Canada, where it will pick up potash, Kinikar said.

PHOTOS BY SEAN D. ELLIOT/THE DAY Longshoremen unload salt from Hold 1 on the bulk carrier Strategic Entity on Wednesday at State Pier in New London. The Singaporeflagged ship is managed by a Connecticut company, MT Maritime Mangement USA of Southport.

The ship will offload about 38,000 metric tons of Egyptian road salt over the four to five days it will be in New London.