Port of Longview wind energy components. Click on the image to read the article at the Daily News.
For two years, wind energy has brought a gale of a business to the Port of Longview. But change is blowing through the industry, and port officials say they are gearing for the end of boom times. The off-loading of the giant wind towers, turbine blades and nacelles manufactured overseas has meant more work for area longshoremen, who recycle the money paid by shippers back into the community. But a port official said that this year, business will slow down as a lagging effect of the recession, but it should pick up through the middle of the decade. “It’s given us a lot of man hours and a lot of work, especially in the economic downturn,” said Dan Coffman, president of the Longview-based International Longshore and Warehouse Union local 21. So what’s the next big money-making cargo for the Port of Longview?