Though increased regulations and restrictions have hit much of New Bedford’s fishing industry hard, Maritime International continues to grow. Fueled by the ability to mold itself to fit the needs of customers, while at the same time expanding its own operation, the cold storage company has announced the beginning of a three-stage $6.5 million project that will result in both job creation and long term business opportunities.
”We are very excited about this; our last expansion was in 1978 when we moved here from Providence,” said Michael H.M. Taylor, vice president of Maritime International. “This new expansion provides us with a lot of opportunities.”
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Many of those opportunities, Taylor said, wouldn’t have been there without help from the city. Funding for the project came through the city’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Board.
According to John R. Zakian, executive director of the New Bedford Economic Development Council, Inc., TIF agreements are becoming key incentives to luring and keeping businesses in New Bedford.
Since it began almost two years ago, the program has provided tax incentive to 25 companies, resulting in more than $120 million in tax benefits.
“New Bedford has really taken off in the past two years with the help of this program,” Zakian said. “Below the radar, we have become a very hot commodity. The warm and fuzzy feeling that is naturally generated within the business and finance community is extremely important and I think that people are really beginning to see a willingness from the city to work with them in the area of development.”
Maritime’s TIF agreement will cover a 10 year period generating a private sector investment to tax benefit ratio of 20 to 1, something Zakian said if far better than the already historic ratio of 15 to 1.
For Maritime, that agreement means for every $20 it invests on the project, it will receive $1 in tax savings on the project’s increased value. The actual dollar ratio is $6.5 million to an increased abatement value of $318,000.
”Without the cooperation of the city we wouldn’t have gone ahead with this plan,” Taylor said. “New Bedford has been very cooperative and the city has provided a good environment for us. They are very business oriented, and they really seem to understand our needs.”
Changing with the tides
Started more than 100 years ago as Providence Cold Storage, Maritime International moved to New Bedford in 1958.
Located along the city’s waterfront, the company has evolved into a full-turn key operation dominating both sides Acushnet River. Taylor said the company will do just about anything a customer requires and currently operates a cold storage warehouse, a shipping agency with a fishing fleet, a truck brokering business, and a freezing plant.
“Anybody can come and ask us to do something, and we will probably do it,” Taylor said. “That’s just the way we are.”
Taylor said part of the company’s success has been its ability to change to meet the needs of its customers, while at the same time keeping up with changes in government restrictions. For example, a few years ago when the government started regulating monkfish and dogfish, both of which were key in the Maritime operation, the company was forced to literally regroup.
“It is definitely difficult when the government starts regulating,” Taylor said. “But we decided the only way to deal with that is to find a different species.”
Eventually the company decided to switch to herring, and mackerel, neither of which was regulated by the government. And according to Taylor, the switch resulted in more than just new fish.
“We solicited international and domestic companies to see what an appropriate catch would be, and we ended up heading toward a partnership with an overseas company,” Taylor said. “Change is necessary to survive. You have to keep looking at yourself and see what you can do to make your company better.”
And not all of the company’s clients are involved with the fishing industry. Taylor said the company houses frozen cranberries for a “very large company that never wants to be named.
“In order to survive in this industry you need to be flexible,” Taylor said. “In this company we wear a lot of hats.”
Perched in a schooner and breaking ground with a harpoon, Taylor said the company is ready to move ahead aggressively with its expansion plan. The first stage, expanding the cold storage facility, has already begun and has an expected completion date of September. Phase two of the project, upgrading a bulkhead for added vessel use is scheduled to start next month, and the third phase adding a processing end to the terminal is still in the planning stage.
According to Taylor, in addition to retaining the company’s existing 44 jobs, the company is projecting that employment levels could increase by almost 50 percent with 21 full time jobs added.
Taylor said he is excited both about the company’s future and the future of the Whaling City.
”There are a lot of opportunities here and I think people are beginning to realize that,” he said. “The New Bedford Economic Development Corporation and the mayor are working hard to let businesses like ours know there is reason to develop here. I think great things are going to happen.”
