Tenant Information
Tenant Spotlight
Port Tenant: Commodities Plus
Vice President: Mike McDaniel
Phone Number: 360-693-5249
Address: 2707 NW Lower River Road, Vancouver, WA
Business Specialty:
A port tenant since 1984, Commodities Plus specializes in the packaging and distribution of bulk food grade materials. Some of their main materials include: wheat flour, corn flour, corn meal and semolina which arrive at the port by rail and are distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest by truck.
When Commodities Plus was established in 1984, the company handled mostly non-food grade materials like off-grade wheat flour, which is used in making glue extenders. An extender is an additive or binder used in plywood or panel manufacturing to conserve resin and improve the performance of the adhesive. With the recent industry shift to using soy flour to make glue extenders, Commodities Plus now handles that as well. And then in 2003 they expanded their business to handle food-grade materials such as corn flour, corn meal and semolina.
Commodities Plus is a prime example of a tenant that takes full advantage of the dual carrier rail service now provided at the port. According to Vice President Mike McDaniel, “rail service is key for us since products are coming in from Oregon and the Midwest and we need to pull from both BNSF and Union Pacific to make our business work.”
As part of their process, two packaging stations are used to separate bulk products into bags that are capable of holding 50 to 3,000 pounds each. Then the bags are loaded onto trucks for distribution through the Pacific Northwest. Corn flour and corn meal are used to coat French fries and are distributed to customers in Washington, Eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho. “These have been very solid products for us and are a large part of the food business we are focused on handling right now,” said McDaniel.
Commodities Plus employs nine people, all Clark County residents, and has been an active partner with other port tenants in regard to their packaging and transportation needs, including Food Express, Inc. and Great Western Malting. The port wishes Commodities Plus and all our tenants much success in 2011.
Downloadable Tenant Spotlights in PDF format.
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