McInnis requests TSA for ProvPort plan, existing cement distributor lodges objection

THIS AERIAL photograph shows ProvPort, with Save The Bay located south of the property, and Johnson & Wales University Harbor Campus located to the southwest. A proposal to offer tax incentives to a Canadian company that wants to establish a cement distribution facility at the Port of Providence drew support from construction trade unions and the administration of Mayor Jorge O. Elorza Thursday, at a public hearing of the City Council Finance Committee. / COURTESY PROVPORT
THIS AERIAL photograph shows ProvPort, with Save The Bay located south of the property, and Johnson & Wales University Harbor Campus located to the southwest. A proposal to offer tax incentives to a Canadian company that wants to establish a cement distribution facility at the Port of Providence drew support from construction trade unions and the administration of Mayor Jorge O. Elorza Thursday, at a public hearing of the City Council Finance Committee. / COURTESY PROVPORT

PROVIDENCE — A proposal to offer tax incentives to a Canadian company that wants to establish a cement distribution facility at the Port of Providence drew support from construction trade unions and the administration of Mayor Jorge O. Elorza Thursday, at a public hearing of the City Council Finance Committee.
But the request has attracted criticism from a potential competitor. Bedford, Mass.-based Holcim Cement Company. Its attorney, Robin Main, of Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP, argued that Holcim has operated a cement distribution facility without tax breaks since the 1960s, and employs six to 10 people.
The company is not against competition, she said. “It wants to see an even playing field,” Main said. “There are operators here who are paying their taxes.”
Holcim is located on Terminal Road, off Allens Avenue. It has a facility in New York that manufactures its cement, she said.
Montreal-based McInnis Cement plans to open a regional distribution facility at ProvPort to serve New England, and has requested a 12-year tax stabilization agreement for property taxes, and a treaty of similar length for tangible property taxes.
The ProvPort location for the U.S. subsidiary, McInnis USA Inc., would represent an investment of some $22 million, according to Zachary Darrow, of Providence law firm DarrowEverett LLP, who is representing the company. The company proposes to sign a 20-year lease and invest $11 million in construction to improve an existing warehouse at ProvPort. Another $8 million would be invested in equipment and tangible assets, said Darrow, of Darrow Everett LLP.
The McInnis facility would employ about 20 people full-time, including 10 hired by McInnis, and 10 contractors on-site. More employment would be indirect, through trucking and shipment of the cement being imported through the center, according to a company official.
The company proposes to move the cement it is manufacturing in Quebec into five more ports, said Darrow, although Providence would be the first entry point. “This is a well-capitalized company, pushing forth into the U.S.,” he said.
The company plans to send one ship a month into ProvPort, according to Mark Newhart, vice president of logistics and distribution for McInnis Cement. “We would like to start marketing our materials in the U.S.,” he said. “ProvPort is an ideal facility.”
Cement would be brought in by ship, and also potentially moved out by ship to other ports, Newhart said.
Officials at ProvPort, which manages the Port of Providence, spoke in favor of the tax stabilization agreements, as did representatives of the Rhode Island construction trades.
Following the meeting, Bill Fischer, a spokesman for ProvPort and McInnis, said Holcim is one of a few companies involved in cement distribution. A new competitor in the local market could result in decreased construction costs, he said.
“Holcim is one of a few players in the cement marketplace that has a stranglehold on supply and pricing.”

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