Osaka-based Fuji Oil Col Ltd. and Itochu International, a New York-based subsidiary of Itochu Corp. in Tokyo, are proposing to invest $30 million in facilities at and near the Port of Hueneme to transport and process 100,000 metric tons of unprocessed vegetable oils a year.
The plan could create more than 60 full time jobs in the port area and generate up to $25 million in regional economic activity per year.
The two firms are discussing the plan with the Oxnard Harbor District, which oversees the port. The plan calls for the two firms to bring in the oil through the port, ship it via underground pipelines to a near dock storage farm and then truck the oil to a nearby processing plant. The $30 million estimate would cover the construction of a small office, a steam boiler and six to ten storage tanks on a two-acre site within the port area and the construction of a five-building processing plant on a ten-acre parcel nearby in Oxnard.
Under the proposal, the two firms would make the $30 million investment in exchange for an at least 40-year lease with the port. The lease rate and estimate wharfage and dockage revenues under the proposal would net the port about $1.2 million a year.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
