No mention of VGPR in the latest news paper. However, there is mention of a 'third' manufacturer. No name was given to this third manufacturer. Does anyone think it may be a biocoal plant? Maybe. I will hold what I got.
September 17, 2011
Inland port reaping benefits
First container going to Savannah Monday
Peggy King
Cordele Dispatch
Cordele — With Cordele Intermodal Services (CIS) set to ship its first container Monday, at least three manufacturers and one major grocery store are considering locating facilities here as a direct result of the inland port.
Cordele-Crisp IDA Executive Director Bruce Drennan confirmed Friday that a textile manufacturer from India, an automotive parts supplier and a third manufacturer are seriously thinking of putting warehouses here, and that's where many jobs will be created.
State officials are telling these companies that it will be just like having warehouses in Savannah, except in Crisp County they have the advantages of job tax credits totaling $8,250 per employee, and less operational costs than they would find in the coastal city.
Now that the inland port is a reality, Kroger is looking at the local area with different eyes than it did a few years ago, Drennan indicated. The major grocery chain also is considering putting a store in Cordele.
After months of delays so that train tracks between Cordele and Vidalia could be adequately repaired, the first container will be shipped by rail from the intermodal facility to the Port of Savannah Monday. That container will carry kaolin clay from CE Minerals/Mulcoa in Americus, Drennan says. CE Minerals is expected to be one of the inland port's biggest customers, and as a result of the inland port in Cordele, that Sumter County plant will be adding about 200 jobs.
Companies that already are shipping their merchandise through the Port of Savannah have contracts with various steam ship lines, Drennan says. Their existing contracts include service from the port to their foreign destinations. Because of relationships CIS President Jonathan Lafevers has established with steam ship lines, new contracts now will include transportation from Cordele to the foreign destinations.
Local industries like Helena Chemical, Union Compress, Marvair and Flint River Services will be using the inland port, Drennan added. Helena is getting ready to add jobs because of the port and Union Compress is considering construction of a warehouse adjacent to port property. "They'll be able to load cotton directly from the warehouse into rail containers destined for Savannah."
Twyla Talbot, manager of the Union Compress facility in Cordele, says she has been having to go to Savannah to get containers, bring them back to Cordele, load them, then send them to the Port of Savannah by truck. Cordele's inland port will save her one of those trips, and rail service is less expensive than truck transport because of fuel costs.
Helena and Marvair will be importing raw materials, then producing chemicals (Helena) and air conditioner units (Marvair) and exporting them to foreign customers, so they will use the rail service going both ways.
One of Crisp County's next projects, according to Drennan, is to seek a Foreign Trade Zone designation. There's a lot of legal and other paperwork involved, so it probably will take at least a year, but once it is approved, companies that produce goods in the county will pay no import or export duties. That will represent a 5 to 7% savings for local industries, he says.
A facility similar to the Cordele inland port in Virginia has been operating about 20 years, Drennan further explains. Some 25,000 jobs in warehousing, distribution, trucking and other related businesses have been created there, he says, and annual payroll related to the facility totals $3 to $3.5 billion.
Within a year, Drennan anticipates that Cordele Intermodal Services will be shipping some 25,000 to 30,000 containers annually. He expects numerous auxiliary industries to locate in the area including small trucking companies that will bring jobs and population growth.
Increased industrial growth will mean a greater tax base for the county. "It's not individual property owners who pay the bulk of the taxes in a county,” he said, “but industries are the big taxpayers.” They will finance the additional infrastructure such as schools, sewer, water and gas service that will be necessary in the future, says Drennan.
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