THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170400
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 67 lines
The chickens are coming.
Perdue Farms Inc. will start shipping most of its poultry exports through the port of Hampton Roads next year, Gov. George F. Allen announced Tuesday.
To accommodate the flocks of chicken that will soon start flying through the port destined for overseas markets, Virginia International Terminals Inc. will build a $7.5 million cold storage warehouse at the former Sewell's Point Docks in Norfolk.
VIT operates the three marine cargo terminals owned by the Virginia Port Authority.
Design, engineering and site preparation for the warehouse is already under way. Construction will begin later this year and the warehouse is projected to open by next June, according to the announcement.
``This is a very important project to the port and the entire commonwealth,'' Allen said in a statement. ``Business volume at the new cold storage facility is expected to generate 13 additional ship calls each year and encourage economic growth by tapping into new, specialized commodity markets.''
Perdue's export business will create 15 jobs in the warehouse and at least 30,000 hours of additional work a year for the region's longshoremen, according to the governor's office.
It will also make Hampton Roads one of the nation's leading poultry ports. Poultry already is one of the port's 10 top exports. More than 100,000 tons of chicken and turkey was shipped through the region's terminals last year.
Salisbury, Md.-based Perdue Farms is the largest East Coast poultry producer and the nation's second largest. It has shipped most of its exports through the port of Wilmington, N.C.
Perdue operates five poultry processing plants on the Eastern Shore and five in eastern North Carolina. It has additional plants in Florida and Alabama.
``Norfolk was centrally located,'' said Perdue spokesman Richard C. Auletta. ``It was the most efficient location overall.''
The planned cold storage facility will be used by Perdue to export poultry to Russia, Eastern Europe and the Far East. Auletta declined to disclose how much poultry Perdue exports.
``The agreement is the result of over four years of market studies and planning by the Virginia Port Authority and Virginia International Terminals,'' said J. Robert Bray, the port authority's executive director.
The planned warehouse will be operated for Perdue by International Refrigerated Port Services, a unit of Richmond Cold Storage Co. Inc. That company will operate under a license from VIT.
``The refrigerated warehouse puts our port in the position to be a world leader in handling foodstuffs,'' Frank E. Loughon Jr., Richmond Cold Storage's chairman and president, said in a statement.
The 80,000-square-foot warehouse will feature on-dock freezers with direct loading access to cargo vessels. Trains will be able to bring refrigerated cars directly onto the dock for loading into the warehouse.
Although Perdue will be the primary exporter to use the facility, it may not be the only one.
``The dockside location is unique and guarantees opportunities for international exporters to have their products directly shiploaded in Virginia and dispatched to any part of the world,'' Loughan said.
The deal marks a rebirth for Sewell's Point Docks, now part of Norfolk International Terminals and known as Pier 3. The pier was once one of the busiest cargo terminals in the region, but the rise of containerized shipping slowed its cargo handling considerably.
Pier 3 has been used primarily for the long-term storage of cocoa beans shipped through Norfolk in recent years. by CNB