ODESSA, Texas —
The deal that would've brought an inland port to the city of Odessa is no longer moving forward as of right now, according to Odessa Development Corporation (ODC) board member Tim Harry.
“What happened was is there was a purchase sale agreement that could not be negotiated between the seller of the property that we were looking at buying and ODC and the communication that was going on between the consultant ODC and the seller of the property," Harry said. "That went off the rails early this week and the seller decided to move on because the timelines did not meet what they were looking for their goals."
In the past it’s been stated that an inland port would put Odessa on the map when it comes to transporting goods from one side of the country to the other by providing a midpoint.
“There still is no inland port from the metroplex to Huntington Beach. Establishing Odessa as an inland port from the metroplex would be the last stop from east going to west and that’d be Odessa, Texas," Odessa Mayor Javier Joven said. "But it would be the first stop from the west coming to east and it gives us a critical crossroads east, west, west, east, north, south, south, north.”
Harry said the economic benefit of an inland port cannot be understated.
“We hope that there will be another shot at an inland port. It is something that is desperately needed in the Permian Basin. This facility would have brought in jobs, jobs would have created jobs at the direct port itself," Harry said. "It would have also created skilled truck driver positions within the Permian Basin that were needed that are typically coming from out of the area.”
Harry adds that while this deal is no longer moving forward, the ODC still intends to look into other ones and to bring an inland port to Odessa in the future.