American Sugar Refining's Domino Sugar Factory Celebrates Major Milestone

BALTIMORE, -- Baltimore's Domino Sugar refinery will make history on Monday [April 9] by receiving the largest single raw sugar shipment to be delivered to any port east of the Mississippi.

The inner harbor's iconic refinery will set a record by receiving more than 95 million pounds of raw sugar, just six weeks short of the factory's 90th anniversary.

"The significance of this event is hard to overstate," said Refinery Manager Stu FitzGibbon. "In these difficult times for American manufacturing, Baltimore's Domino cane sugar refinery has proven it is thriving as a world-class competitor. By utilizing our employees' experience and dedication, we have been able to increase production while reducing major costs such as energy. As a result, the plant has been able to stay competitive and continue to provide good-paying jobs and local economic activity in Baltimore."

The M/V Simon Schulte vessel is more than 600 feet long and 100 feet wide. The massive ship is more than 100 feet longer than the usual cargo vessels that deliver sugar to the refinery. On its arrival, the Maryland Pilots will direct two large tugboats as they turn the massive vessel 180 degrees and guide it next to Domino's pier. The operation is carefully orchestrated to end with a gentle contact to the Domino dock.

The Port of Baltimore has long been established as one of the nation's most successful ports, and sugar delivered to the Domino Sugar refinery has been one of the mainstays. The Port of Baltimore immediately serves the third largest consumer group in the nation (i.e. Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area), and it has the shortest routes into the nation's heartland with a very large customer base in the mid-west. Thanks to Domino Sugar, Baltimore is the nation's premier and most efficient seaport for imported and domestic raw cane sugar in the United States.

American Sugar Refining, Inc. is the world's largest cane sugar refining company. The company produces a full line of consumer, industrial, food service and specialty sweetener products. Across North America, American Sugar owns and operates six sugar refineries as well as specialty sweetener production facilities and a strategic warehousing and distribution system that provide seamless production and delivery of its products to customers across the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the European Union, the company owns and operates sugar refineries in England and Portugal. American Sugar's Domino refinery provides 500 jobs and more than $150 million in local economic activity for Baltimore.

source: sys-con