Wind blades point way to port’s future

The port of Eastport's audition for handling the shipment of wind blades went so well that port officials are optimistic that the port will get the part for more shipments in the future. The work will help offset the loss of wood pulp shipments, following the indefinite shutdown of the Domtar Corporation's mill in Baileyville.

The port captain, who was working for the Dutch shipping company Trinitas, and a surveyor hired by General Electric both said the workers at the port unloaded the blades "as fast as any place in the world," says Port Director Chris Gardner. "The unloading was outstanding."

"I feel very confident, due to the work of the longshoremen and the truckers, that they have put themselves in a good position to do more ships," says Gardner. "All credit lies with the people on the pier, the truckers and crane operators."

About 30 workers took about 18 hours on April 30 and May 2 to unload the 54 packages with a total of 108 blades. Work was slower at the beginning because the cranes unloading the blades from the trucks, where they are being stored at the end of the airport runway near Deep Cove, did not have the reach to unload more than one unit before having to be moved for another lift, according to Roland "Skip" Rogers, general manager of Federal Marine Terminals (FMT). Once enough blades had been unloaded from the Jade C so that a ship's crane could be used with a crane from Thomas Dicenzo Inc. on the pier, one of the Dicenzo cranes on the pier was moved to the airport location. FMT operations manager Tom Critchley "did a great job" organizing the unloading operation and reorganizing the setup at the airport, says Rogers.

The rate of unloading increased from about two packages an hour at the beginning to five units an hour at the end. "The longshoremen did a fantastic job C A-1," says Rogers.

Rogers says the truck drivers C David Pottle, Jason Cook, Austin Frost and Gordon Ganong C "did a remarkable job" maneuvering the trucks with two articulated joints that carried the 125-foot-long blades. The trucks had extendable trailers to be long enough to hold the blades, and Morrison Manufacturing of Perry helped in constructing the road-handling equipment. Workers from Fairpoint Communications assisted in raising the telephone wires along the road from the pier to the airport to allow the 17-foot-high cargo to pass underneath. The blades at the airport now are being moved out on three trucks a day until they all will be removed later this month.

Gardner comments, "On behalf of the port authority and Federal Marine, I would like to thank the community and the city for being understanding with the delays in traffic. It truly was a community effort making this work."

The shipment of 108 blades, which were manufactured in Brazil, will be followed by another shipment with the same number of blades in June. Sixty of the blades are headed to First Wind's Rollins Mountain project, located in Lincoln, Burlington, Lee, Winn and Mattawamkeag, and the remainder are going to First Wind's project in Oakfield, Maine, and wind energy projects in Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania.

A link to port's future

At a press conference when the unloading of the blades began on April 30, Gardner said that wind energy "is a vital link to the economic future" of the port, with the uncertainty following the shutdown of the Domtar mill, which has been the port's only customer recently. He said the port authority is pleased that General Electric, the customer that shipped the wind blades, "has given us the opportunity to serve their needs." Gardner pointed out that the efforts of Boston-based First Wind, which purchased the blades from GE, brought the company's "focus on the port." He added, "The longshoremen C the strength of our workforce C have given us this opportunity." He also acknowledged the efforts of the truck drivers, pilots, city and port officials, Sunrise County Economic Council and Maine Port Authority.

Since he first met with Matt Kearns of First Wind three years ago, Gardner said First Wind "had a great interest" in how the company could involve Washington County in the wind power industry. Although the number of long-term jobs is not at the same level as the county's older manufacturing industries, the wind energy projects do mean work for the port's longshoremen and for construction workers.

Gardner also noted that "too many times we're told we sit at the end of the line," but he pointed out that blades from this shipment are headed to Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia, with Eastport being in the middle. "This is what happens when the port is seen as an integral part of the region," he said. "This is what happens when the county pulls together."

Eastport City Manager George Finch said the wind blade shipment is part of the port's plan to become competitive as "a niche port." Noting that other communities are only now facing shutdowns of major industries, Eastport has had a long history of industries shutting down, from shipbuilding and the shipping of the 1800s to the sardine and fishing industries. "We said we need to do something different," said Finch, pointing to a strategy that would be dependent not on one industry but on three C shipping, aquaculture and tourism.

"First Wind is really pleased to be doing business in Washington County," said Kearns, who is vice president of business development, New England, for First Wind. "A community-based team made this happen in a partnership."

Kearns also noted that the skills used by workers in the state for industries that are on their way out can be transferred to newer industries. While the port has been shipping pulp, now it can handle cargo for renewable energy projects. "We have all the skills to serve the wind power industry here in Maine," he said. "We're ready to put people to work."

Pat Defilipp of Reed & Reed, based in Woolwich, noted that his company has worked on the Mars Hill and Stetson Mountain wind projects. The company had 150 people working at the Stetson I project, and 97% of the labor for the $65 million project came from Maine. He noted that nearly 100 businesses had benefitted from the project. Stating that "wind is a clean, inflation-proof source" of energy, he added that the projects help "revitalize communities."

Kearns expects that wind projects will continue to be developed in Maine for the next five to 10 years and that "Washington County can play a leadership role."

First Wind's projects in Maine include the 42-megawatt Mars Hill wind farm, the 57-MW Stetson Mountain wind farm in Danforth, both of which are operational, a 25-MW Stetson II project, the 60-MW Rollins Wind project, a 49-MW Oakfield project, and a 40-MW Longfellow project in Rumford. Projects in early development include a 150-MW Down East project and an 80-MW Maine I project. Its wind farm proposal for Dark Harbour, Grand Manan, is currently on hold, with Kearns noting that U.S. markets for wind energy are presently stronger than Canadian markets. Of the Grand Manan project, he says, "We're optimistic that will become a reality."

First Wind plans to continue building wind farms in Maine that will be adding 200 megawatts a year and may get involved in offshore wind farms later. Governor Baldacci has set a goal of the state producing 3,000 megawatts of electricity from wind by 2020. Kearns believes there are many potential sites for wind projects in the state, but he stresses that it is important "to start early with community outreach."