(Photo by Art Smith) A 100-ton Komatsu Material Handler is backed off a low-boy trailer Monday after being delivered to the Marietta Industrial Enterprises Inc facility between Marietta and Belpre. The large piece of equipment will allow the company to increase its capacity to load and unload barges with a wide variety of materials along the Ohio River. The handler will be put into service after modifications are made to it.

Marietta Industrial Enterprises Inc. began the first stage of a five stage multi-million dollar renovation and expansion project for 2025 Monday after receiving a 100-ton Komatsu Material Handler at its site on St. Rt. 7 near the Eramet plant.

A press release from the company said a new machine like this one can cost just under $1 million, plus delivery fees. It said bricks and mortar are also very expensive.

“We are lucky that we have local lending institutions that are willing to advance funding to support this important transportation growth,” MIE President Trent Elliott said in the release.

The material handler will be used to load and unload barges on the Ohio River, the release said, adding MIE has been a stevedore and warehouse operator for over 60 years. The purchase of this Material Handler will increase its barge loading and unloading capacity at Marietta, as well as further improve its reliability for all of its business.

It said the company is now able to consistently unload more than 3,500 tons per day, every day, at the Marietta terminal alone.

The release said the company has been in communications with some of its previous oil and gas exploration customers and they expect to see a return to new well development in late 2025.

“We have executed agreements with several new customers who will be locating in our area in 2025-26,” Elliot said in the release. “Additionally, several of our existing customers are planning on business growth.”

The release said the company is also spending money rejuvenating its drilling mud, pipe distribution and frac sand processing/shipping facilities in anticipation of additional business in that sector.

MIE has also been meeting with state and federal legislators who have told the company they are going to be concentrating on improvements in the waterways as an important mode of transportation in the coming decade. It said this is tied to the tremendous expansion that is on-going in Central Ohio and Western West Virginia.

“Because of this, we are preparing to handle any variety of new work that comes to the region, especially if it supports additional economic development,” Elliot said in the release. “This is in addition to the coal that passes through our terminal, and the abilities of our other locations.”

The release said the company also plans to increase its storage capacity with the construction of new warehouses and processing facilities, and will be entering into a paving program to improve its intra-plant roadways and decrease any potential roadway emissions from additional traffic.

“We believe that the coming years will see business expansion in South East Ohio,” Elliot said. “We will be ready for it.”