Ray Greene says that if communities in this province promote one another on projects in Newfoundland and Labrador, then those are projects that benefit all of us.
The marketing manager for the Port of Argentia made the comment while addressing the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.
He said coming to Stephenville was like a homecoming because he spent almost four years in the town, including several while he was studying journalism.
Greene told chamber members there are a lot of similarities between Stephenville and Argentia, as both were former military bases — Stephenville an air base and Argentia a naval base.
He said many of the buildings that were once in Argentia were the same style as those in Stephenville, and the lay of the land is similar in both locations.
Greene said with a lot of commonalities, it’s important to share information, and there are benefits in repurposing some of the assets at the Port of Stephenville.
“It’s just as much about information sharing as promoting one port on its own. We want to get the word out that the Port of Argentia is open for business, just as the Port of Stephenville wants to get the same word out,” he said.
Greene said he’s sure some projects are more suited to certain ports, and in that way both gain and the province gains.
He said Argentia, located within the town of Placentia, has about 40 businesses operating within its port, ranging from private to Crown corporations on 3,000 acres of industrial land and 6,000 acres of forest lands.
“We’re strictly an industrial site now, as all the homes are down and we advertise ourselves as a premier industry seaport,” Greene said.
He said their vintage American bunkers are great storage facilities and despite being 70 years old, tanks in the ground are great for storing calcium chloride.
“There’s money it them there hills,” he said of the location of the storage facilities.
Greene also had advice about any buildings owned by the town, saying the preference of the not-for-profit organization that runs the Port of Argentia is in leasing, not selling.
“You can sell assets, but once gone, it’s gone,” he said.
Greene said the Port of Argentia has what is called the “Northside Development plan to enhance site selection” and offered advice to the Stephenville area to get into site selection, as it’s going to be very big in the future.
He advises tapping into the local CBDC and into ACOA, and taking the show on the road. He said it’s important to get on the “site selectors” list.
“I suggest someone from Stephenville connect with this and certainly welcome ideas for partnerships. It’s a whole new area for us, as there’s a need for laydown space, and former military bases are ideal for that,” he said.
