State Pier is the future site of a massive $157 million upgrade project, in part to accommodate a wind turbine staging area for partners Ørsted and Eversource. Since the offshore wind industry does not require rail service, the port authority has said that in return for the lease, it will help facilitate use of the rail further upriver at the site of a newly proposed pier facility envisioned by Mohawk Northeast Inc., a heavy civil construction and engineering company with operations in New London and Groton. Mohawk is working with the state to help facilitate use of rail for its own business and possibly for other operations, including those being displaced from State Pier by the wind industry. The news of the lease with the railroad was announced jointly in a statement from the Connecticut Port Authority, state Office of Policy and Management and New England Railroad Inc., a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The lease is for $525,000 a year, rising 4% annually. The cost of the lease is incorporated into the $157 million Harbor Development Agreement announced by the governor in February, port authority business and special projects manager Andrew Lavigne said in an email.
https://www.theday.com/business/20200331/connecticut-port-authority-secures-use-of-more-land-in-new-london