Officials to celebrate record-breaking year for auto imports

NORTH KINGSTOWN – State and Congressional leaders will gather Friday morning at Quonset Business Park to celebrate a sixth consecutive record-breaking year for automobile imports at the Port of Davisville last year.
According to a news release from the Quonset Development Corp., which manages Quonset Business Park, the Port of Davisville has experienced growth of 547 percent over the past 20 years.

The port, managed by the QDC, had imported more than 190,000 automobiles through Oct. 27, surpassing the total of 178,215 in 2014. Friday the state will reveal the final number.
In addition, the QDC noted that Gov. Gina M. Raimondo included a $70 million bond proposal in her state budget to modernize and reconstruct Pier 2 at the port – a move that is expected to add 50 more years to the pier’s useful life.
“The investment would preserve hundreds of jobs in the maritime sector,” the release stated, adding it also would “solidify Davisville’s position” as the premier marine commercial gateway to New England.
According to information from the development corporation, Pier 2, an earth-filled structure, was built in 1956 and designed to last 50 years. The plan is to install a new wall with grouted earth anchors to anchor the wall and support the exposed height and earth pressure. An additional berth for ships also will be created, allowing the port to pursue more shipping business, the corporation said.
The 10 a.m. event also will mark North Atlantic Distribution’s opening of its newest auto processing facility at the port.

To help meet the demands of the growing auto import business at the port, NORAD built an additional 35,000-square-foot auto processing facility that allows it to finish and process more vehicles before distributing them to dealerships in the Northeast, the QDC said. NORAD has invested more than $40 million at the park since its arrival in 1986, hosts almost 400 full and part-time workers, and now has approximately 230,000 square feet of building space at Quonset, it said.
Raimondo is expected to attend the event, along with U.S. Sens. Jack F. Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Reps. James R. Langevin and David N. Cicilline, and House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed.
Michael Miranda, NORAD president & CEO, and Steven J. King, Quonset Development Corp. managing director, also will be in attendance.

No posts to display