A TERMINAL REBORN
Greenberry Industrial, Superior Energy bring new life to the Bellingham waterfront By Evan Marczynski evan@bbjtoday.com
T
welve years ago, the Bellingham Shipping Terminal heard its death knell. For decades, Georgia-Pacific’s waterfront pulp mill and the Alcoa Intalco Works aluminum smelter used the terminal to export nearly 500,000 tons of material out of Bellingham every year. But in 2000, the mill closed and Alcoa cut production. Within one year, exports stopped. In the decade since, the terminal’s 1,500foot pier has served as moorage for container ships and tugboats. Enter Greenberry Industrial and Superior Energy Services. The companies received approval in February from the Port of Bellingham to add about 36,000 square feet to the shared terminal space they have leased since November 2011. The fact that the terminal, once a bustling heartbeat of local industry, resembled something more akin to a floating ghost town when the lease began actually worked in the port’s favor. Chris Murray, Greenberry’s vice president of regional operations, said the ample available space, along with the terminal’s deepwater access, were deciding factors in the decision to lease from the port. “We just fell into this bed of roses,” Murray said. “It was the right place. The timing was great.” The companies now lease nearly eight acres of land and rent space in both of the terminal’s warehouses. The recently approved additional space will be used for outside storage and employee parking.
Year 20 No. 4 $2
April 2012
CONSIGNMENT BOOM, P.5
Sugar is sweet, and so is ... STEVIA? Bellingham’s Sweet Green Fields sees a lucrative future for the tasty herb By Evan Marczynski evan@bbjtoday.com
I Workers at the Greenberry Industrial and Superior Energy Services terminal site secure a section of an outer wall to a permanent floating structure. It will be shipped to Alaska once complete. EVAN MARCZYNSKI PHOTOS
It is the fourth time Greenberry and Superior Energy have expanded at the terminal in the last four months. Greenberry, a Corvallis, Ore.based industrial contractor and fabricator, operates six locations nationwide including one in Fern-
dale. According to a Feb. 28 port memorandum, the company is partnering with Superior Energy’s Marine Division to provide oil field services in Alaska. Murray said they are building a permanent floating structure that will be shipped north by barge
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once it’s completed in June. He declined to say exactly what the structure would be used for, or to name the project’s client, citing the client’s concern for privacy. Superior Energy, a Houston, Texas-based company, provides drilling and production-related services to oil and gas companies, according to its website. Virtually all of the global players in the oil and energy industry have operations in Alaska, including BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. A number of smaller companies also operate in the state including Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Armstrong Alaska, Aurora Gas
t’s green, sweeter than sugar and – if its producers have their way – could soon make a major leap into the alternative sweetener industry expected to draw more than $1 billion in nationwide demand by 2015. Stevia, a wild South American herb whose white powder extract received recent approval as a food additive from the Food and Drug Administration, has given food and beverage makers a new fill-in for traditional sugar that its proponents say is a better option for sweet-toothed consumers. “With the tremendous rise in obesity and diabetes on a global scale, the use of stevia extracts in food and beverage as a natural sweetener, in combination with other natural sweeteners like sugar, can greatly reduce the caloric intake yet provide consumers with great tasting and
STEVIA | Page 4
TERMINAL | Page 4
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