Asphalt maker seals port deal Lease worth $30m and 35 jobs
3 SEPTEMBER 2010 -A new $30-million investment has been announced for the Hamilton Port Authority that will see Canada’s largest maker of asphalt move a Toronto plant here.
McAsphalt Industries, which already has 20 terminals and locations across the country, has leased space at the port’s Pier 24 at the foot of Strathearne Avenue for a new processing and shipping facility.
“This is a really big deal for the port,” said port authority president Bruce Wood. “McAsphalt is going to be the anchor tenant at this end of the harbour.”
Kam Bhatia, McAsphalt’s vice-president for engineering and risk management, said the new facility will cost between $25 million and $30 million and result in about 35 jobs when it’s finished next year.
Construction work will start next week.
“Things are changing at the Port of Toronto, so Hamilton is the perfect home for us,” Bhatia said yesterday. “The port authority people just presented us with a situation where we couldn’t say no.”
Bhatia explained the new plant will be built in three phases, starting with an office building and tank farm, docking facilities for two lake-going barges, a rail line and facility for filling tanker trucks with liquid asphalt.
Asphalt, which starts as the sludge in the bottom of oil barrels, undergoes chemical and other treatments to become the black material used on roads throughout the country. In Hamilton, there will be some processing work, but the facility here will be mostly a shipping point.
A port location, Bhatia said, was preferred by the company because marine transport is the best way to move the large quantities of material the company handles.
It operates two 150-metre-long barges and Hamilton’s harbour provides one of the few places on the Great Lakes where they can both be docked at the same time.
Bhatia said a big reason why the company decided to locate in Hamilton was the fact the city is a transportation hub linking air, road, rail and marine modes.
“Having that kind of transportation infrastructure is a key part of our business,” he said. “Hamilton is an excellent fit for what we need.”
Wood said the port authority has a long-running campaign to attract new tenants to its land — a drive that so far has drawn investments totalling $100 million.
“That marks a significant turnaround for us,” he said. “We’re starting to have fun here now.”
Richard Koroscil, chair of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, called the investment another dose of just what Hamilton needs — jobs and prosperity.
“This is just awesome news because it’s all about jobs and prosperity,” he said. “This is what we need to be pushing on for the future.”
The Hamilton Spectator sarnold@thespec.com
