Manufacturing and Storage Goes South

Bellingham Whatcom Economic Development Council has recently announced that almost all new interest in manufacturing and distribution sites in the county are from Canadian firms. Canadian firms are realizing that storing products south of the border helps ensure timely delivery to customers and prevents delays at the border.  Many companies have determined that there are cost savings to actually manufacturing, not just storing, the products in the U.S.  Especially for the timber compaines and the tariffs currently in place there can be significant savings by shipping raw lumber to the U.S. and completing final milling in the U.S. A recent article in the Bellingham Herald brought out another benefit to a U.S. location for Canadian companies. Salespersons from Canadian companies making sales calls in the U.S. can have a location just across the border in the U.S. to store their display products and promotional/sales materials.  This way, they can save significant time crossing the border without a backseat or trunk full of merchandise and all the paperwork and explanations that are involved. One company in Bellingham that services just this market is Jim Pettinger at International Market Access. For companies that want their own location, Bellinham is seeing a lot of construction in the storage/warehouse market. Several of these storage facilities are selling the units as condos/strata so that a company can purchase its own location.  Recently a 50 by 20 foot unit at Extreme Storage was selling in the $100,000usd range.