Domtar’s shutdown to hit county hard

The Domtar shutdown for an indefinite period will directly affect approximately 90 people at the port of Eastport, including close to 50 longshoremen and about 30 truck drivers, along with tugboat crews, harbor pilots and office staff. The ripple effect on other businesses and stores, with longshoremen or truck drivers no longer stopping in on their way to and from work, will reach many more throughout Eastport and neighboring communities.

At least three more ships are expected to be loaded with wood pulp from the Baileyville mill, but port officials and longshoremen are uncertain about the future after that. Last year the port loaded a record amount of 376,873 metric tons of cargo, having grown over 160% in cargo tonnage in the past decade. But with Domtar being almost the only customer of the port, its future is unclear if the shutdown becomes prolonged.

"We're not looking at cutting jobs here," says Roland "Skip" Rogers, general manager of Federal Marine Terminals (FMT), which operates the Estes Head port. "We're hoping this turns around and comes back."

Doug DeWitt, president of the North East Longshoremen's Association, agrees that it's too early to tell what will happen and if Domtar will start the mill back up later on. "It doesn't look good, but you can't give up on it."

"Everybody now feels like they've been blind-sided. There are a lot of unanswered questions. A lot of fear," says Dick Critchley of Perry, who has worked as a longshoreman for 16 years. Workers are asking themselves if they should "look for another job or hang tight." However, he notes that when the port started in the early '80s people were saying it would last only a couple of years and it's continued for 28 years. "So be thankful for what we got out of it."

"The guys I really feel sorry for are the ones that's all they have," he says of those who don't have another job other than the part-time stevedoring work. Critchley says some longshoremen may find work fishing, clamming or doing carpentry and some may decide to leave the area, but he notes that with the current state of the economy, "Where are you going to go? Everybody's laying off."

Another longshoreman, Peter Hilyard of Pembroke, has worked at the port for 21 years and gets full family health insurance through Federal Marine. If work at the port doesn't come back, he says he'll probably go back to school to learn a new trade. "We're just hoping things will come back around," says Hilyard. "It's not just us C there are 300 at the mill, truckers, guys in the woods. A lot of people will be affected by this."

Ricky Camick of Eastport, who's worked 22 years as a stevedore, says, "Right now most of them are down in the dumps. But they're optimistic that things will swing around and will come back." Camick, whose father, brother and nephew work at the port, notes that although he has other part-time work he's still in a bind because he gets his health insurance through Federal Marine. He adds that FMT worked with the longshoremen so they could have a leave of absence to fish or make an extra dollar at other work. "They were more than fair that way."

DeWitt believes most of the longshoremen work at other jobs, usually being self-employed as fishermen or carpenters. Although the work at the port is limited C one to four days per ship, with 30 ships last year C and longshoremen have to be available for when a ship comes in, they receive good pay, about $17 an hour, and full health benefits. "The value is in the healthcare" insurance, notes Rogers. FMT provides full medical and dental benefits, including full family coverage, at no cost, except a deductible and some insurance co-pays, for 43 longshoremen who are members of the North East Longshoremen's Association. FMT also provides bonuses and a 401k plan.

"I don't know how long they will continue with health insurance. It's a lot of bleeding," says Rogers. "It won't be long before we're under the gun to minimize costs."

The longshoremen's association has a contract with FMT through the end of the year, and DeWitt speculates, "As long as they're open, I guess they would have to go by the contract."

So far, one ship is scheduled to take on pulp in April. At present the port's warehouses are "chock a block" full of 32,000 metric tons of wood pulp, and FMT is hoping to sign a lease with the Passamaquoddy Tribe to store another 7,000 tons in the former Gates Formed Fibre building. With Domtar producing more pulp until the mill is idled on May 5, Rogers expects that at least three more ships will need to be loaded to clean out the supply.

Options for port explored

“We've realized the need to diversify for a while," says Port Director Chris Gardner. He says the port will need to change how it handles shipments. "We have to change how we do business and set up for bulk commodities," says Gardner. "We need to invest in ourselves now."

Although plans for wood-pellet shipments ended up falling through this summer, when negotiations by a German company, Enligna, to purchase the former Louisiana-Pacific oriented strand board mill in Baileyville were derailed by a waste-to-energy proposal that has failed to materialize, Gardner believes there still may be "an immediate opportunity" in the wood chip business.

Rogers says the port is continuing to try to attract dry bulk shipments such as wood pellets or chips, gravel or salt. He notes, though, that dry bulk doesn't provide as many jobs as break bulk or packaged cargo like wood pulp. Rogers and Gardner are hoping that federal or state financing can be obtained to purchase the conveyor system and hoppers needed for bulk handling.

Gardner also believes that shipments through the port of windmill blades for projects in Maine will occur this year.

Noting that Eastport is the only port in the state without access to a rail line, Gardner says it's unusual to find successful deep-water ports without rail access. "We will work on that," he says. He recently wrote a letter to the Maine congressional delegation outlining concerns about plans to spend $12 million in state and federal funds for dredging at the port of Searsport, while the state has resisted an estimated $10-15 million investment to bring a rail connection to the port of Eastport. Rogers says a rail connection would help with shipping bulk products, including fertilizer, and also with other break bulk products, including pulp and paper.

Pan Am Railways is interested in working with the port on the development of an intermodal facility to transfer cargo from rail to trucks near its rail line in Baileyville. Although the governor's proposal for transportation bond issues includes about $1.5 million for developing an intermodal facility for moving cargo from rail to trucks for the port, along with some reconstruction of the Eastport breakwater, Gardner says he's not sure that the present intermodal proposal for Baileyville "makes so much sense with the Domtar situation."

"We hope Domtar can come back," says Gardner. "We've had 30 years of great relations with them, and we'd like 30 more."

He adds, "The port authority remains committed to investing in its Estes Head cargo operations and will work with state officials, our stevedores, Federal Marine Terminals, the North East Longshoremen's Association, the area harbor pilots, the local independent trucking operations as well as the city of Eastport and all the surrounding communities to ensure that the port of Eastport remains a viable and integral part of the local and statewide economy."

The port director observes, "A lot of families depend on this port. We know that.