The Baltimore County Council unanimously approved a 50-year tax credit Monday night for a massive port project at Sparrows Point.

Tradepoint Atlantic, owned by private investors, has been planning a massive, one-of-a-kind shipping terminal in a joint venture between Tradepoint and TiL, or Terminal Investment Limited. MSC, the world’s largest shipping company, is the majority owner of TiL. TiL’s other partners are the asset manager BlackRock and the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.

The newly created credit could save their joint venture hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes over its five-decade lifespan, but council members were emphatic that it was worth it.

An economic analysis commissioned by Tradepoint Atlantic said the new container terminal, once operational, will create 8,000 direct and indirect jobs.

“The terms of this will outlive most of us in this room,” said Councilman David Marks. “It’s important we get it right.”

The county did not independently analyze how much revenue it would forgo because of the tax credit. Instead, Tradepoint hired a consultant to produce a report that was then reviewed by the county.

Under the deal, the terminal will pay a property tax bill tied to the current assessed value of its land — an empty lot — for the next half-century. The first year of the credit, the tax bill is tripled, and then it rises 2% to 3% annually for the next 49 years.

Property taxes will not be tied to the value of the terminal after the $1.1 billion investment, and any machinery, including giant cranes, will also be exempt from personal property tax.

The credit means the terminal is expected to pay about $40 million in taxes. Tradepoint and its partners estimated that Baltimore County would forgo $229 million in property tax collections over time, according to Tradepoint spokesperson Aaron Tomarchio.

Some economic experts interviewed by The Banner were skeptical of the tax credit’s size, and a vocal county resident, Scott Pappas, has called it unfair to taxpayers and friendly to billionaires.

A new terminal at Tradepoint Atlantic would also cannibalize some existing port business. About 500 ships per year are expected to visit it, but two-thirds would be taken from existing Baltimore terminals.

But many others endorsed the measure, which appeared to be a fait accompli as it was discussed during a County Council work session last week. Most members of the seven-person council requested to be co-sponsors of the bill, and a parade of supporters from the business community spoke in favor of it.

They highlighted at least 50 years of economic impact and noted that a rival project in Delaware was receiving a $200 million public infusion. This one, county leaders noted, would not require capital, but rather forgone tax revenue.

Scott Cowan, president of the local longshoremen’s union, described the terminal as a renaissance for the Port of Baltimore and said its economic echoes would have the “longest tentacles you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“It’s going to be a boom,” he said at the council work session.

Ray Baker, of the Baltimore-DC Metro Building Trades Council, spoke in favor of the bill Monday, and Mark Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, “strongly” encouraged support.

The measure would level the playing field compared to the nation’s other terminals, which are all located on public land and do not owe property tax, said Sharon Kihn of the Chesapeake Gateway Chamber of Commerce.

The only negative comment Monday night was from Councilman Todd Crandell, who said the roads around Tradepoint Atlantic are already becoming overwhelmed with heavy truck traffic.

“With success comes consequences,” Crandell said. “It was not designed for this amount of heavy trucks.”

Crandell recommended that the county, state or federal government spend money to improve those nearby roads. Otherwise, he was full-throated in his enthusiasm for the terminal project.

Crandell said Tradepoint Atlantic was not asking for any public support — the logistics company was asking for an incentive. It was an important distinction to Crandell, who said there was only upside in this deal.

After they passed the tax credit Monday night, the council members broke into applause.