STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 35 This led firms like Cadeco Industries to invest in the largest bulk handling facility in the US Warehouse stocks grew to an average 339,000 bags in 2003. In 2006 Maximus acquired the Maxwell House roasting facility in Houston and became the largest in- tegrated coffee plant in the world with a capacity of 2 million pounds a day. Texas became an important coffee roasting and distribution hub. In 2000 Mother Parkers opened and later expanded a 100,000 sq.ft. coffee plant and distribution center in Fort Worth, the first to be organic certified in North America. The pace quickened in the past 20 years. In 2017 Farmer Bros. opened a 538,000 sq.ft. roastery capable of roasting and packing a half million pounds of coffee a day (28 million pounds a year). Hernandez said the entire region benefitted as coffee im- ports shifted to Texas destinations when NYBOT temporar- ily suspended the coffee handling certifications in New Orleans due to flood damage by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Dupuy, a national warehousing operation founded in 1936 in New Orleans, specializes in coffee with warehouses in Jack- sonville, Miami, Florida, and Charleston, SC. The company opened a 296,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in Houston in 2007 that in- cludes 24,000 sq. ft. of climate controlled space ideal for storing specialty coffee. The facility recently expanded to 512,000 sq. ft. Walking through stacks of coffee five pallets high, Hernan- dez says modern warehouses must be extremely efficient. Sup- ersacks, truck docks, tracking and traceability, and certfications require sophisticated logistics software. "Warehouses also offer more services such as cleaning and blending coffee and bulk packaging," he says. Houston recognizes that coffee trades on "slim, slim mar- gins," says Hernandez. The city greatly benefits from good high- ways and intermodal rail that connects the region to coffee ports in southern California that receive coffee from Vietnam, now the world's second largest coffee exporter. During the past year 1,500 New Panamax ships, carrying 13,000 containers or more, have traversed a widened Panama Canal after a massive upgrade doubled its capacity. Asian coffee now arrives cheaper by ship. It's more than just luck and location. Houston, it seems, has it all. Exchange Change The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) recently changed its rules gov- erning the cost to importers for delivering coffee to southern US coffee ports. Beginning in May 2019, the 125 point penalty ($.0125 per pound) paid by importers to offset the freight cost of delivery (compared to the Port of New York / New Jersey) will be reduced to 50 points ($.005 per pound). New Orleans, Miami and Port Houston could all see an increase in exchange certified coffee as a result. New Orleans led the campaign to reduce the penalty beginning in the early 1980s. The decision follows "years of lobbying by local Port officials, politicians, and members of the New Orleans coffee industry," writes Janet (Colley) Morse, Dupuy Group vp, adding, "This is good news in coffee. Bring on the beans!" New York and Virginia remain on par. The ports of Bremen/Ham- burg and Antwerp will remain deliverable at the penalty of 125 points. The Port of Virginia (Suffolk) was ICE certified in September 2016.

• Cover