NORTH KINGSTOWN – The Port of Davisville at Quonset Business Park now ranks as the fifth-busiest importer of automobiles in North America, according to the latest statistics from PIERS Maritime Research Services and the Quonset Development Corporation.

The annual report – analyzing data from the continent’s 37 top auto importers for November 2007 through October 2008 – found that Davisville now surpasses major ports including Baltimore, Los Angeles, Savannah and Vancouver, the QDC said.

No. 1 in all of North America was the Port of New York and New Jersey, the PIERS report found. Next were Portland, Ore.; Jacksonville, Fla.; San Diego; and Davisville.

In the 12 months ended in October, the North Kingstown port brought in 91,000 vehicles, the PIERS report found. That was more than 40 percent of the 219,000 vehicles that came in through the Port of New York and New Jersey during the 2007-2008 period. And it represented 7 percent of the roughly 1.37 million vehicles North America imports each year.

“This new ranking is great news for Rhode Island and Quonset,” said QDC Chairman J. Michael Saul, the interim executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (EDC). “The growing auto-import business at the port has already created new jobs at the waterfront, and we anticipate further increases.”

Over the past few years, the business park has attracted 2,400 new jobs and $170 million in private investment, with another $128 million in the pipeline, the QDC noted.

Quonset-based auto importer North Atlantic Distribution Inc. (NORAD) now employs 300 people, having added more than 50 new jobs in the past three months. NORAD President Michael Miranda told PBN in January that he plans to add another 25 to 40 workers this year. (READ MORE)

In the fourth quarter – after the period considered in the PIERS rankings released yesterday – Volkswagen moved its import business to Quonset from Wilmington, Del. NORAD now imports Subarus, Audis, VWs and Bentleys – from Emden, Germany; Kawasaki, Japan; and Veracruz, Mexico – and predicts it will bring in 125,000 cars in 2009.

Steven J. King, the QDC’s managing director, credited recent infrastructure improvements, as well as competitive tariffs and facilities fees, with helping position the port for growth.

“The Business Park’s internal rail improvements, coupled with the [regional] freight-rail improvement project, now mean that autos can travel farther triple-decked via rail,” he said. “The rail and the newly completed direct highway access, via Route 403, provide support for continued growth, and additional job creation at the Port.”

The Quonset Development Corporation – a special-purpose subsidiary of the quasi-public R.I. Economic Development Corporation – is responsible for developing and managing the 3,000-plus acre Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown. Additional information is available at QuonsetPointRI.com.