Milling & Baking News - June 16, 2009 - 16

Business

P.N.W. projects underscore new
vitality to grain export industry
ST. LOUIS - In the span of just a
couple of days, two announcements
- from Bunge North America and
United Harvest L.L.C. - were made
that may change the landscape of the
grain export industry in the Pacific
Northwest.
On June 1, Bunge North America,
the North American operating arm of
Bunge Ltd., said it formed a joint venture with Itochu Corp. and STX Pan
Ocean to build and operate an export
grain terminal at the Port of Longview
in Washington state. The joint venture,
which will be called EGT Development, L.L.C., will create the first export terminal in the United States in
more than two decades, Bunge said.
The last two grain export terminals to
be built took place in the early 1980s,
by ConAgra Foods, Inc. at Kalama,
Wash., and by Zen-Noh Grain Corp.
in Convent, La.
According to Bunge, the export
terminal will be capable of handling
grain, oilseeds and protein meals and

will feature a rail loop track unloading
system capable of holding four 110-car
unit trains at any given time. In addition, the facility will include a shuttle
train unloading system and will have
the capability to unload barges from
the Columbia river. When it is fully
operational, the facility will be able to
handle more than 8 million tonnes annually, Bunge said.
"The Pacific Northwest is already
the second-largest export corridor in
North America but additional capacity will be needed to meet the growing
demand for agricultural products in
Asia," said Carl Hausmann, president
and chief executive officer of Bunge
North America. "All three partners
currently ship to the Pacific Rim, and
this facility will be well-positioned to
create a more direct and stable supply
base so that we can better serve our
operations and customers in Asia."
Itochu Corp. is the second-largest
marketer of grain and food products in Japan, and STX Pan Ocean is

Love's Bakery partners with Aloha Air Cargo

16 / June 16, 2009

HONOLULU - Love's Bakery Inc.
has partnered with Aloha Air Cargo to
distribute Love's fresh bread on Maui,
Kauai, Kona and Hilo daily, areas that

Air Cargo name on the jet engines. The
aircraft's new name, "The Love Jet," is
painted on the nose side.
"Together, Love's Bakery and Aloha

account for approximately 40% of
Love's sales.
The companies on May 28 unveiled
a freshly painted Boeing 737 plane that
features the Love's Bakery logo near
the front and tail, as well as the Aloha

Air Cargo can deliver our products
'fresher' and faster than any other
mode of transport across Hawaii,"
said Mike Walters, president and chief
executive officer of Love's Bakery.
"That makes us very proud." MBN

Milling & Baking News

one of the world's leading shipping
companies of agricultural products.
Bunge has oilseed processing assets
in China, an ownership stake in the
Phu My port in Vietnam and is a significant seller into the Asian market.
Bunge said it is the majority partner
in the project.
"We certainly appreciate the support we have received from civic leaders in Longview and we look forward
to being a good corporate citizen in
the community," said Bailey Ragan,
vice-president and general manager,
Bunge Grain. "The grain terminal will
not only create about 50 good jobs, but
will provide about $2 million in tax
revenue to support local governments
and schools. The facility will be supplied by agricultural production from
Washington state as well as other locations in the Northwest, the Midwest
and Western Canada."
Construction is expected to begin
this month with the facility accepting
product for the fall 2011 harvest.
On June 3, United Harvest, L.L.C.
announced plans to "improve and
modernize" its grain export facility
in Kalama through a rail yard expansion that will increase inbound rail
capacity and reduce a logistical bottleneck around daily receipt of those
rail cars.
"We're expanding our inbound rail
capacity by 100%, which will result in
faster turnarounds, greater efficiencies
and overall improved performance,"
said Gary Schuld, president of United
Harvest, a joint venture between CHS,
Inc. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. of Tokyo.
"By doubling our inbound capacity,
we're in a better position to meet our
customers' growing needs.
"We see this important infrastructure investment as phase one of a
three-part modernization program at
the United Harvest Kalama facility.
These improvements will enhance our
ability to add value by effectively linking producers to global commodity
customers."
The facility originally was built in
1962 by North Pacific Grain Growers
Inc., a regional cooperative.
The project is under way and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30. In
addition to Kalama, United Harvest
operates an export facility in Vancouver, Wash.
According to the 2009 Grain & Milling Annual published by Sosland Publishing Co., the Kalama facility has
uploading capacity of 6.4 million bus
and loading capacity of 60,000 bushels
per hour. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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Milling & Baking News - June 16, 2009

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