Massachusetts Sets Sail With $3.2 Billion of Capital and Maintenance Investment

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Massachusetts continues to enjoy its ride as number one in the New England region, at least in regards to capital and maintenance spending. Steadfastly navigating the stormy waters of the current economic climate, the state has managed to carve a $3.2 billion bounty out of the region's $5.6 billion of capital and maintenance projects that have a projected 2009 kick-off. The entire New England region is holding up remarkably well, as the average total investment value (TIV) of the 110 projects in play for 2009 is $51.8 million (source: Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database).

The horizon brightens further as the numbers reveal an actual increase of 80% over the region's 2008 projects starts of $3.1 billion. Divided among 119 projects that started last year, the TIV resulted in a lower project average of $26 million. Presaging its role this year, Massachusetts lead the region's 2008 investments with 41 projects starting that carried a cumulative TIV of $1.8 billion (project average $43.9 million). The region's remaining states of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont all expect some level of industrial investment for 2009.

Click on the image at right to see a breakdown by state of planned 2009 capital and maintenance project starts in the New England region.

In the spirit of keeping it real, it is important to remember that the remaining planned project starts for 2009 are still subject to the vagaries of the current financial climate. In 2008, the region lost 17 projects with a combined TIV of $668 million to the ambiguous "on-hold" status, while another 25 projects toting a TIV of $1.5 billion were flat-out cancelled. Six months into 2009, and planners have already cancelled 28 projects worth $1.1 billion and placed 27 projects worth $1.5 billion on hold.

In terms of the industries that are leading New England's 2009 project spending, the Power Industry has the biggest cargo, with plans for an electrifying $2.2 billion investment in 32 projects. Currently, the largest of these is a $450 million project to install a wet flue-gas desulfurization scrubber to reduce sulfur-dioxide and mercury emissions at the 458-megawatt Bow Coal power station in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Public Service of New Hampshire (Bow, New Hampshire) sourced the project and tapped the Washington Group (Princeton, New Jersey) to handle engineering and construction for the project.

The Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry is close behind in the investment regatta with $2.1 billion nicely spread over 30 projects. The expected high-dollar university research projects are joined by the nuts-and-bolts maintenance projects at manufacturing plants including AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) (Westborough, Massachusetts), Lonza Biologics (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), Biogen Idec Incorporated (NASDAQ:BIIB) (Cambridge, Massachusetts)and Avecia Biotechnology in Milford, Massachusetts. (source: Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database).

The region currently has more than 1,500 operational plants as found in Industrial Info's New England Online Plant Directory. The existing plants provide employment for more than 318,000 people in the region. With all of the major industrial groups represented in the region, the majority of existing operational plants are claimed by the Industrial Manufacturing Industry, which employs more than 175,000 people in 474 plants. A distant second place falls to the Food & Beverage Industry, with roughly 200 facilities employing nearly 32,000 people. The rest of the operational sites are distributed among other groups, including the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry with more than 170 sites employing nearly 50,000 people. The Pulp, Paper & Wood Industry is on board with more than 170 facilities and 23,000 jobs.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.