Fourth Quarter 2005 West Coast Industrial Project Starts Totaling $6.7 Billion on the Books

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). According to information extracted from Industrialinfo.com’s PECWeb Direct product database, a robust $6.7 billion in capital and maintenance related projects are scheduled to kick off during the last quarter of the 2005 calendar year in the West Coast region of the United States.

Click on the image at right to see a breakdown of planned West Coast Region spending by industry.

Ninety projects are scheduled to be underway during the next three months, with 75% of the spending expected to be concentrated on capital work in the form of new plant construction, expansions and plant upgrade activity. The remaining 25% will fall into maintenance related work in the form of plant shutdowns, outages and turnaround projects.

The most significant amount of dollars will be spent in the Industrial Manufacturing category with a projected $3.9 billion in fourth quarter project kick offs covering just ten projects. $3.7 billion will be spent on one major project expected to get underway within the next 90 days. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is expected to begin construction of the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor BART Extension rail project that will run 16.3 miles to Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara in California.

Other major projects in this category include a $90 million additional expansion phase at the Port of Long Beach that is part of an on-going multi-phase $260 million expansion at the port. The Port of Oakland will also see fourth quarter kick off activity when a $45 million terminal yard reconstruction project gets underway later this month.

The power industry is looking to invest $1.7 billion in fourth quarter spending with nineteen project kick offs planned. The most significant is a $500 million upgrade project at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Department that is expected to get underway at the Grand Coulee hydroelectric station in Grand Coulee, Washington. Other various power plant outages, refurbishments and expansions are also planned.

The Pharmaceutical & Biotech sector is forecasted to begin over $450 million in construction activity spread out over eight new projects. The largest project in this sector is a $250 million scientific research laboratory addition at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.

The Food & Beverage industry will begin construction on eleven projects, with a combined investment of $200 million in the fourth quarter of this year.. Of the $200 million, $80 million will be spent on a soup plant relocation project planned by Campbell’s Soup division, StockPot in Everett, Washington.

The oil refining industry on the West Coast will have triple digit spending as well with nine projects planned with an estimated $154 million in spending. Three major California refiners have turnarounds planned during the fourth quarter. ChevronTexaco will begin turnarounds at their El Segundo and Richmond refineries in October, as well as the ConocoPhillips’ refinery in Wilmington.

The remaining industries spending count shows the Chemical Processing industry investing over $90 million, Metals & Minerals investing $47 million, Transmission and Pipeline projects costing $37 million, Synthetic Fuels will spend $35 million in new ethanol plant construction, Pulp and Paper plans on spending$18 million, and $15 million worth of investments are projected in Oil Terminal spending.

Industrialinfo.com’s West Coast Online Plant Directory features address, phone and fax numbers, and contact information on over 3,600 plants. Operational plants include 2,312 plants in California; 753 plants in Washington and 573 in Oregon. Also included are 44 additional plants that are currently under construction in the region and will become available as part of the database as they come on line later this year.

Don't rely on static, quickly outdated print directories or CD's, get dynamic plant information directly to your desktop from Industrialinfo.com’s West Coast Online Plant Directory. Click on the image at right to try out a free demo.

Industrial Information Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 22 years. IIR is respected as a leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.