The first large ship to arrive and offload cargo at the Winterport Cold Storage Terminal in five years made its way up the Penobscot River in April. The 403-foot FRIO POSEIDON offloaded 1,000 metric tons of frozen squid from the Falkland Islands and was docked at the facility for over a week.
Many onlookers stopped to stare at the massive white ship that appeared, at times, almost larger then the river. Stories of the facility in its heyday as a potato port during the 1970s were common; people spoke of ships lining up in the river waiting to load potatoes. It seemed as if the entire town came out to watch the ship depart the dock, turn 180 degrees in the river, and head for the sea.
The Winterport facility is the only freezer storage in the state with deepwater dock access. It often freezes blueberries and seafood products for shipment out of state.
FRIO POSEIDON is registered in Panama. She was built in Russia in 1994 and remains Russian crewed. She departed Winterport bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.