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April 17 - 30, 2020 Vol. 21, No. 8
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PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
New opportunities: J. Alexander, warehouse manager at Cape Fear Bonded Warehouse, uses a forklift to move a chemical used to make hand sanitizer, a new export product for the firm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A TEETERING WORKFORCE
Index Economic Indicators .............................. 3 Technology ............................................. 4 The List ............................................5, 11 Hospitality ............................................. 6 In Profile...............................................10 Real Estate..................................... 12-13 Business of Life.............................. 18-19
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SOME INDUSTRIES SUFFER, OTHERS IN DEMAND BY CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL
C
ape Fear Bonded Warehouse has seen an uptick on the export side of its business as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re busy. And the port is active, all things considered,” said Will Stanfield, president of Cape Fear Bonded Warehouse, a third-party logistics service warehouse firm in Wilmington. While many industries such as leisure and hospitality are facing restrictions during the crisis, resulting in furloughs and layoffs, businesses deemed essential like those in the logistics, warehouse and distribution industries need extra help to meet increasing demands.
Hiring in the essential markets, however, may not be able to make up for more than a half-million people who have filed unemployment claims in just North Carolina alone. For Cape Fear Bond Warehouse, the pandemic has resulted in a new export product now handled by the firm, a liquid chemical that goes into the production of hand sanitizer, Stanfield said. “This product is made domestically by a private company. It’s a recent account picked up by an existing customer of ours. But I think it will be continued with what’s going on with this pandemic,” he said, adding that the company is seeing between 35 to 40 additional container loads
of the product weekly for export to Europe. The family-owned firm, which has been around since 1976, handles various kinds of imports and exports, mainly on the container side. Its business and warehouse sit on 14 acres at 810 Sunnyvale Drive in Wilmington. The firm, which has about 20 employees, has made a few additional hires recently to handle the increase in export activity. Stanfield’s sector isn’t the only that’s been hiring. Area grocers, pharmacies and other essential businesses are also adding employees because of the burgeoning demands for different types of products and See WORKFORCE, page 8