(BALTIMORE, MD) --- Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari and Maryland Port Administration (MPA) Executive Director James J. White were joined today by top officials with Finnish paper company M-real and Baltimore Forest Products Terminals LLP (BalTerm) to celebrate the opening of a new paper warehouse at the Port of Baltimore. After cutting a ribbon, officials watched as giant rolls of paper weighing as much as 7,000 pounds were trucked in from the first vessel to bring product to the new sprawling warehouse.
“The Port of Baltimore handles more paper than any other port in the country,” said Secretary Porcari. “Governor O’Malley’s goal is to keep us number one in this category and many others so that the Port continues to thrive. His aggressive vision is to continue investing in facilities like this, as well as other important transportation infrastructure, so that we can maintain the stability of the Port, our workforce and our economy. I thank M-real for their strong partnership and their commitment to the Port of Baltimore.”
The new warehouse is part of an agreement signed between the MPA and M-real in 2005. The agreement, a six-year contract with two six-year renewal options, commits M-real to bring 300,000 tons of paper into the Port of Baltimore annually. The paper, which arrives in very large rolls weighing between 3,800 and 7,000 pounds, is used to produce magazines, newspaper inserts, annual reports, and brochures. If unraveled, each large paper roll would stretch about 12 miles in length!
The warehouse itself is 215,000 square feet and 30 feet in height. It has a rail loading dock 810 feet in length and two long ramps 60 feet in length. The facility has 12 loading docks total and can hold approximately 10,000 rolls of paper.
Employing almost 16,000 worldwide, M-real is one of the leading paper companies in the world. Through its worldwide sales network, M-real serves its customers who mostly comprise publishers, printers, paper merchants, offices and carton printers and well-known consumer product companies.
M-real produces about 150,000 miles of paper per year, enough to circle the globe six times. M-real’s customers print about 500 million magazines per year using M-real paper. Together with its customers and partners, M-real develops solutions for demanding end-use, such as magazines, art books, brochures, direct mail, office papers, as well as packages for beauty and health care products, cigarettes, branded food and consumer electronics. BalTerm is the stevedore and terminal handler for M-real.
The paper will be trucked off the ship via a new loading platform that opened last year. The platform, which measures 110 feet in length and 92 feet in width, now allows product to be offloaded more efficiently by trucks that can drive on and off the vessel.
The Port of Baltimore employs more than 16,000 workers. In addition to being the number one port in the nation for handling imported forest products, Baltimore is number one in handling roll on/roll off cargo and the import of both gypsum and iron ore. Baltimore ranks second in the U.S. in the export of cars and trucks as well as the import of sugar, wood pulp and aluminum. Out of 361 U.S. ports, the Port of Baltimore is ranked 14th nationally for total foreign cargo handled and 12th for total dollar value of cargo.
CONTACT:
Richard Scher
JB Hanson
MPA Communications
(410) 385-4480
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