Helena Harbor is a 4000 acre industrial park and slack water harbor located on the Mississippi River one hour south of Memphis, Tennessee. In January of 2021, Helena Harbor was approved by the US Department of Transportation as a part of the US Marine Highway System. This opens up additional funding opportunities for projects that will ship by the Mississippi River. It is located in an Opportunity Zone (OZ). Helena Harbor has undergone an intensive infrastructure planning and building phase since 2015. In June of 2020, the next phase of a water supply improvement project that included 16" ductile iron pipe was completed. The slack-water harbor has a 2 1/4 mile long channel that is 300 feet wide and is served by a 60 ton bridge crane. Planning is currently underway to make Container on Barge service available by the 4th Quarter of 2024. A container lay down yard was completed in March of 2022. Helena Harbor is a designated project on the American Marine Highway System by the US Department of Transportation and was awarded two major grants by the US Department of Transportation in October of 2022 to build additional enabling infrastructure.
Natural Gas service was established in January of 2015 with a 10" steel line. The site was certified as an AT&T Fiber Ready Site in February of 2016. Rail service was established in September of 2016. The Helena Branch of the Arkansas Midland Railroad, which serves Helena Harbor, was rehabilitated in 2015. Switching service is currently available 4 days a week. The Arkansas Midland connects to the Class 1 Union Pacific Railroad. Engineering is approved to build a 500,000 gallon water tank on site that is scheduled to be completed by the first quarter of 2026. Resurfacing of Helm Road completed in December of 2020. Highway 20 is being resurfaced starting in November of 2022 and Phase II of the Helm Road project, to include a truck staging lane is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2023. The next major infrastructure project is completion of the municipal waste water system.
The property is bounded by farmland to the north, the Mississippi River to the east and south, and by State Highway 20 to the west. The area surrounding the site is sparsely populated. The vast majority of this location has been farmed for the past 100 years.