Domino Sugar Factory and Locust Point Area

[KLynch10]

They have been very very insecure in South Baltimore lately. Constant fear of the city allowing UA to take over their land. They recently put out a telephone survey to see who was more and important and a better neighbor... them or UA. Glad to see they are sprucing up their property.. should look great!

[dogpark]

Originally Posted by KLynch10

They have been very very insecure in South Baltimore lately. Constant fear of the city allowing UA to take over their land. They recently put out a telephone survey to see who was more and important and a better neighbor... them or UA. Glad to see they are sprucing up their property.. should look great!

About ~6 years ago, before the real estate crash, as Silo Point was getting going, there was a measure before the city about M3 zoning, protecting the existing manufacturing/industrial sites. If I understand correctly, this was put forth to protect places like Dominos and the stuff in Canton from being leveraged against. I can see Dominos wanting to be a good neighbor. I would hate to see it go; I know guys that grew up here that work there. That plant makes 14% of the country's sugar output according to the article; surely that would make them secure. Dominos is on the water as teh cane comes by ship from the Caribbean.

[Tiger Beer]

I used to drive by a Sugar Refinery in another town...it always had a rotten egg kind of smell, during a certain time of the year.

Does Domino give off any strong smells like that as well, at times?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I used to drive by a Sugar Refinery in another town...it always had a rotten egg kind of smell, during a certain time of the year.

Does Domino give off any strong smells like that as well, at times?

Back in the day when I was there (Jan 1969 - Nov 1972) I never recalled a rotten egg smell, but often there was a sort icky sweet odor.

[cdmoore125]

It smells like molasses if the wind is blowing towards the direction I am walking. I've heard that people in the area see sugar dust on their car often

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by cdmoore125

It smells like molasses if the wind is blowing towards the direction I am walking. I've heard that people in the area see sugar dust on their car often

I don't doubt there's some dust on the cars, probably escapes the cranes/conveyors while unloading ships.

I recall the molasses smell, comes from the refining processes as well as the syrup house where they load tank trucks/railcars.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jonjj

Not sure if anyone saw this article but I found it interesting. I never thought
I'd see the day that Domino is going to try to clean up it's act.

Domino spruces up Baltimore plant - baltimoresun.com

Thanks for the link, good article. Glad to see them clean up the place. During my time there I recall when the firm got a new CEO (Bobby Quitmeyer?) whose office was on Wall St in NYC. He was due for a visit so our plant manager at the time (C. J. Doughty?) spent about $50k to clean up the place which was quite dirty.

IIRC the majority owner(s) were foreigners and curmudgeons who cared not about anything - but money. The rats in the main building were legendary. Even as employees we could not get a tour of the buildings and refining process.

Odd to hear that Domino is the only manufacturer left in the inner harbor; when I was there Locust Point was a very active workplace....

[carthell]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Odd to hear that Domino is the only manufacturer left in the inner harbor; when I was there Locust Point was a very active workplace....

Well, with Under Armour and a few other office-type employers (MAIF's HQ is expected to move into a newly-built complex down there soon), plus retail, it is a different type of active. But it is active.

Like others have said, I would not expect Domino Sugar to move. Train deliveries were increasing to the plant, sometimes making it difficult to arrive at work, go offsite for lunch, or leave work in a timely fashion.

Other shipping activity occurs mostly on the south side of the penninsula. If there are hordes of longshoremen moving here and there doing work, it is mostly hidden from the residential neighborhoods (aside from the periodic "pick day" where the workers gather at the union building on Hull St. to await assignments).

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by carthell

... Train deliveries were increasing to the plant, ....

That part is a mystery to me. When I worked there about the only thing we got in by rail was diatomaceous earth from Lompoc, CA, about one railcar every few months. It came in 100-pound bags in a boxcar.

Our rail was almost totally outbound, over 6M pounds per day going out by truck and rail.

Most they might be getting in by rail are packaging materials, but much of that came in by barge from SC though with the old NBC line gone that stuff may be coming in by rail.

We used to get a lot of wood pallets in, but those arrived by flatbed semi-trucks from S.W. Virginia where wood products were manufactured.

It could be they are empty railcars coming into the plant for loading, and we used various railcars (boxcars, tank cars, and covered hoppers).

[dogpark]

As I understand it, there was speculation that American Sugar wanted to sell the Locust Pt plant, but the dust collector explosion at the GA plant and the damage done by Rita and Katrina to the gulf plant made AS decide not to sell as it needed the manufacturing capacity. I got this second hand, so could be wrong.