Sault Ste. Marie

A major commercial harbour and wood pellet plant may be in the works for the Township of Red Rock on the Lake Superior’s north shore. Two subsidiary companies of Essar Port Global and Riversedge Developments of Sault Ste.

Railmark Canada Ltd. is set to assume the operations of the Algoma Central Railway passenger service. The company, a Canadian subsidiary of Railmark Holdings Inc.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie has hired the consulting team of KPMG and AECOM to navigate the first phase of an in-depth study on a proposed commercial harbour.

Essar Steel Algoma posted a profit of $26.8 million in its third quarter results. The privately-owned Sault Ste. Marie sheet and plate producer attributes the gains to higher shipments, higher steel prices and lower costs.

Sault Ste. Marie’s largest single employer says it plans to add hundreds of jobs within the next few months with plans to bring an additional blast furnace back into service.

Sault Ste. Marie city council voted Monday to direct city staff to enter into discussions regarding the sale of waterfront property to Toronto-based developer Paolo Rovazzi.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie will start the search for a new chief administrative officer this month after Joe Fratesi announced his retirement from the position, effective April 30.

In November, the local employment level reached 41,400, slightly higher than it was in 2008 (40,100) before the onset of the global economic meltdown. Also impressive, Sault Ste. Marie ’s unemployment rate measured in at 4.8 per cent for the month.

Falling oil and gas prices and “unfair” imports are being blamed for 180 temporary layoffs announced to staff by Tenaris Algoma Tubes on Dec. 17. The Sault Ste. Marie plant will also implement a shutdown from Christmas Eve until January 5.

Sault Ste. Marie-based Flakeboard, which manufactures composite panel products, has changed its name to Arauco -North America. Arauco-North America integrates the U.S. distribution subsidiary Arauco Wood Products Inc. and Flakeboard Co. Ltd.