PORT HUENEME : Refrigerated Warehouse at Dock Dedicated

With the din and clatter of a bustling Port of Hueneme as a backdrop, state and local business and political leaders formally dedicated the port’s massive refrigerated warehouse Friday, with toasts of the Scandinavian aperitif aquavit and California wine.

Built by the port and Cool Carriers--the giant Scandinavian shipping line--the 140,559-square-foot warehouse was designed to refrigerate citrus from the Sunkist Growers Assn. that is awaiting export overseas.

The warehouse, cooled with a cold-brine refrigeration system with the power of 100,000 kitchen refrigerators, covers an area the size of three football fields. Officials with Cool Carriers say it is the largest refrigerated warehouse on any dock in North or South America.

Arriving at the port aboard historic rail cars from the Fillmore Short Line were dignitaries that included Cool Carriers President Bo Natt och Dag, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), California Secretary of Agriculture Henry Voss and Sunkist Growers President Russ Hanlin.

Anthony J. Taormina, executive director of the Oxnard Harbor District that operates the port, said the warehouse would help increase agricultural business at “the port that farmers built.”

Gallegly summed up the benefits of the new facility with three words: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Inside part of the warehouse that had been converted into a banquet hall for the dedication, guests spoke about the economic advantages of the $10-million facility.

Paul Leavens, whose family grows more than 900 acres of lemons, oranges and grapefruit, called the refrigerated facility “a real leg up for us.”

“This will be a great asset to growers,” Leavens said.

The presence of the facility should also help the Port of Hueneme gain visibility among area exporters, said Viola M. Koch of VK International Consultants of Santa Barbara.

“This may make a difference,” Koch said. “It will give people an idea to export who have never exported before.”