STEUBENVILLE — The RiverRail multimodal terminal facility at the south end of the city has been sold.

Tidewater Operating LLC of Fort Worth, Texas, is listed on Jefferson County records as the new owner. The company paid more than $4.4 million for the terminal, which serves logistics needs for the shale industry in the region. Tidewater Logistics’ website indicates the firm serves the frac sand market with operations and consulting services.

The firm lists the Steubenville facility among six serving three major shale energy basins in the nation: The Permian Basin in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico; the Eagle Ford shale deposit in Texas; and the Appalachian basin.

Steubenville and Allenport, Pa., are serving the local region, with the remaining four Tidewater facilities in Texas, according to the firm’s website.

Tidewater was issued permits for transloading of sand at the facility with the Ohio EPA in 2015. The facility has been known as RiverRail following the demolition of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill structures and site remediation.

During a public hearing before the city Board of Zoning Appeals in May, a consultant representing River Rail said there were six tenants in the site, which serves shipping by barge, rail and truck and transfer among the three modes of transportation. The company had received a variance to install three large fabric storage facilities for granular fertilizer being shipped throughout the region by truck after being brought in mostly by barge for Meherrin Fertilizer Inc.

Various local economic development leaders have said the site has about 70 employees working there. RiverRail also recently had purchased 7.8 acres close to state Route 7 by the Pilot Travel Center. That acreage also was listed among the parcels sold to Tidewater.