Chemtex outgrew its 15,000-square-foot warehouse in East Providence three years ago.
Since then, Leonard Johnson, president of the company, has been looking for a larger location and one that’s on a single level, so he can streamline the distribution of products that absorb and help manage hazardous liquid spills on land and water.
The goal is to fulfill orders faster for its clientele – distributors and spill clean-up contractors in New England and about 20 other states and eight countries – so the company can continue to grow. But good real estate is “very difficult to find” in this state, he said.
For awhile, all Chemtex could find were multi-story spaces with low ceilings or overly large newer facilities, Johnson said. So when he found a single-level, 40,000-square-foot facility in Cumberland in his price range, he jumped at the opportunity. Chemtex is moving there and planning to start operations in the new space on Aug. 6.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, Johnson and partner Jonathan Wietzner started the company in 1998 with $5,000 and 10,000 square feet of space. Since then, the company has grown rapidly.
Greater enforcement of federal laws and regulations – such as the requirement under the Clean Water Act, that anyone releasing pollutants into a river or stream obtain a special permit – have been driving the company’s growth, Johnson said.
That’s because to obtain a permit, companies have to find ways to reduce the release of pollutants into receiving waters, and one of the solutions is to purchase products tailored to help them meet those specifications.
Chemtex sells 50 lines of products geared to storm water management, personal protection, bio-remediation, secondary containment and water cleansing and degreasing.
In addition, in 2002 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revised its oil pollution protection regulations to include periodic on-site facility inspections and the submission of certain information about specific discharges.
The regulations require entities to implement a “spill prevention control and countermeasure” plan that would prevent oil spills that could reach navigable waters. That is good for Chemtex, because it means more companies and municipalities are purchasing the products to help them meet those requirements as well.
“I’d never even heard of [those regulations] until eight years ago,” Johnson said. “Now that people are enforcing the law, it’s in the public eye.”
Johnson said once the company moves into the new space it will house one of the largest inventories of spill prevention, cleanup and management products in the country. It will be able to warehouse more than 60 tractor-trailer truckloads of product.
That means if there were ever a catastrophic oil spill in the region, Johnson said, the company would be able to supply enough cleanup materials in a short amount of time to mitigate the damage.
“We’re available 24/7,” he said. “We don’t close our doors.”
Christopher Blake, vice president and general manager of Frank Corp. Environmental Services in New Bedford, can attest to that.
Blake said Chemtex is always “right there” for the contractors when they have to respond to an oil spill, and it saves a significant amount of time and money to have the needed materials available within minutes.
But Chemtex is also finding good customers farther from home. About 10 percent of the company’s sales are now to customers in other countries, Johnson said, and that segment is growing thanks to the Internet.
“I find it easier to sell abroad,” Johnson said, “because you get your money upfront before you ship it.”
