Last year was a very good year for the Port of Albany. However, this year the port has started slow but business is picking up. With new projects on the way, the future looks bright for New York’s “Upstate” port that is halfway to nearly every placeBy George Lauriat, AJOTLast year in late June, Richard (Rich) Hendrick succeeded Frank Keane as the Port of Albany’s General Manager. Hendrick, a retired police detective, had for three years been the director of security and interim general manager before being confirmed. Keane, who long held the post, accepted an appointment as executive director of the Board of Commissioners of the Pilot’s of the State of New York. In an interview with the AJOT, Hendrick said he was “pleasantly, surprised” at the results in 2008. “We [Port of Albany] had a record income of $5 million for the first time and an operating income totaled $2 million.” This tally compared favorably to the 2007 result of $4.4 million and operating income of $1.5 million. The Port of Albany’s 2008 results were buoyed, by handling wind turbine blades, pipe for a new natural gas pipeline across the Southern Tier, grain and rock salt. Though February cargo figures were significantly off compared to 2008 figures (38,842 tons compared to 128,727 tons), nearly 100,000 tons of this total was in grain and rock salt, cargos that this year the Port has yet to move. However, other cargos are “holding steady” according to Hendrick. “We’ve handled wood pulp imports (one of six ships), and GE has two project cargo ships in the works, one for Europe and another for Queensland, Australia.” Also the Port is expecting to handle three-grain ships over the next five weeks. Another slice of project cargo business that the Port is looking forward to handling is an 850-ton crane, and other machinery that are destined for the construction of a GlobalFoundries semi-conductor plant in Saratoga County. The Port also has handled a shipment of forty rail car shells from Brazil destined for Alstrom Transport’s plant in Hornell. The cars are part of a 272-car order by the City of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. PROJECTS MAY SPEED AHEAD In March of 2008, The Albany Port District Commission selected a proposal by Albany Renewable Energy LLC to construct and operate a plant that would be capable of producing 165 million gallons of ethanol per annum. Under the terms of the $350 million project, Albany Renewable Energy would pay a minimum of $20,000 per acre for a lease of a least twenty-years. The project is very important to the Port of Albany’s future as the plant would potentially account for 600,000 tons of cargo. The corn would largely come from the Mid-west via rail car to the facility. Rail connections are a key advantage of the Port of Albany. Besides the ethanol itself the project will produce 500,000 tons of distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol process that is used as a feeder stock for cattle. The Port of Albany also has the advantage of being able to load the ethanol on barges for distribution throughout the East Coast. The project has been dogged with controversy as Empire State Ethanol & Energy LLC of Cooperstown claims its idea to develop the plant was stolen by various other companies associated with Albany Renewable. Henrick says that the plant is on schedule for startup in 2012. Adding that Ed Stahl, the spokesman for Albany Renewable, in an e-mail, confirmed that they are moving forward with meeting the terms contained in the lease agreement and target dates for building. However, at this writing a federal judge has ordered that a portion of a $72 million lawsuit brought against an ethanol plant at the Port of Albany be resolved in arbitration. The defendants are BBI International, a biofuels company based in Colorado, Bio-Pro Resources LLC in North Carolina, Albany Renewable Energy LLC and executives from the three companies. Another key project for the future of the Port is the replacement of 1,000 feet of wharf. Originally