Lynchburg, Va.-Agrium Inc. is working towards an April startup of its new $5.5 million Lynchburg terminal that will replace the 100-year-old warehouse that burned to the ground in 2008 (GM, Jan. 21, 2008). “Agrium has had plans all along to rebuild,” reported Wayne Kendrick, terminal supervisor. “They were just waiting to see what would be right for the customers.” As it turns out, not only will the new building be about two-thirds the size of the former terminal, but with all of the latest equipment only three full-time employees will be required, instead of the five who manned the operation owned by Royster-Clark that Agrium acquired in 2006. “With the new technology it won’t take as many people as it has in the past,” he added. “But it will have the same dedication that Agrium has had to the community, the environment, and its employees.” Kendrick said the new building will include modern efficiencies such as the four holding hoppers that will drop down into the weigh hopper, saving a lot of time weighing the product instead of the truck. “We won’t have any branding or bagging, but we will handle bulk material mainly consisting of urea, potash, and DAP,” he explained. “There will be some bagged products coming from others that we will sell to wholesalers but won’t sell to individuals.” Kendrick expects the facility will distribute about 30,000 tons of fertilizer each year in an area that grows mostly pasture hay, some corn, soybeans, and tobacco.
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