Sandy McLaughlin
General Manager of LNG Engineering & Manufacturing, Air Products
» No. 2 Infrastructure (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
» Superior Connections
• 19 commercial service airports
• 2 spaceports
• 15 deep water seaports
• 3,000 miles of freight rail tracks
• 12,000+ miles of highway
• Multiple hubs for high-speed data transmission throughout the U.S. and to Europe,
Latin America and Africa
Air Products is a Fortune 500 company and world leader in clean energy.
While the firm has conducted successful manufacturing operations in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., since the 1960s, Air Products faced constraints in shipping its larger heat exchangers, which can measure 180 feet long and weigh up to 500 tons.
The need for a site with deep water port access inspired the company’s search for a secondary facility that could both manufacture the equipment and ship it directly to global customers.
Florida’s availability of 15 deep water ports made the state a front-runner in this company’s site selection. Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development partnership, worked hand-in-hand with Air Products and local officials to tour various coastal cities and identify the ideal piece of property adjacent to a deep water port.
Air Products found exactly what it was looking for in the Gulf coast city of Palmetto, directly across the highway from Port Manatee.
Not only can the company take advantage of readily accessible port services to facilitate global shipping, but the region offers a business-friendly environment and skilled workforce.
The Air Products facility will create up to 250 jobs and a capital investment of more than $50 million.
