An agricultural company is considering developing a transload facility on the terminal at the Port of Wilmington.

The N.C. Ports Authority on Thursday approved a recommendation to lease .77 acres of land at the port's terminal to the company for the potential project -- the details of which, and the name of the firm, will not be announced until further actions for the proposed lease are finalized, port officials said following the board's meeting.

The potential of such a project, however, would be positive for the port and state agricultural business, said Bethany Welch, spokeswoman for N.C. Ports.

Now that the recommendation has been approved by the board, the lease would have to go before the Council of State (COS) before it is finalized. N.C. Ports is slated to present the recommendation at the COS meeting in January, she said. 

"We're very excited about the potential of this project and the opportunity it presents the North Carolina agricultural industry,” Welch said. “We look forward to making a formal announcement in the future.”

The land lease, if finalized, would be much like the leases the port has with the Port of Wilmington Cold Storage facility and Enviva, two companies on the ports' property.

A transload facility would allow the firm to receive, store and load agricultural products for shipment by ocean carriers from the Port of Wilmington, Welch said.

"Our team has been hard at work to open more opportunities to support the ag industry in our state. And this project is evidence of that. We're excited about the potential it has to help continue to grow North Carolina's agricultural industry," she said.