Chemical Storage Centers Set

Two companies are planning chemical storage and distribution centers on the Gulf Coast to serve chemical makers that are expanding their facilities to take advantage of low-cost natural gas from shale. In Pasadena, Texas, Mitsui & Co.’s Intercontinental Terminals subsidiary will spend about $150 million to build a storage terminal for bulk liquid chemicals and petroleum. The firm expects the terminal will open during the second quarter of 2015. Intercontinental already owns a terminal in Deer Park, Texas. Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, La., Katoen Natie USA, part of a Belgian logistics company, will spend $150 million on a plastics storage, custom packaging, and distribution facility. To open in 2018, the center will be Katoen Natie’s seventh U.S. site.