— by Floyd McKay for Crosscut.com —
Ownership of the proposed coal port at Cherry Point north of Bellingham shifted abruptly Tuesday, with a Goldman Sachs subsidiary dropping out and a major Mexican businessman stepping in.
The developments led opponents of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal to point to questions about the financial viability of exporting coal for power generation in Asia. But the supporters of the project appear to be moving forward.
SSA Marine, whose holding company, Carrix, will finance the big project, announced that GS Infrastructure Partners, the Goldman Sachs subsidiary, sold its 49 percent of FRS Capital Co. FRS is Carrix’s parent company and a key part of the coal port effort.
The controlling 51 percent throughout the transactions is held by the Smith and Hemingway family, descendants of the family of Frederick Smith, founder of what became SSA Marine. The company terms itself “the world’s largest independent, privately-held marine terminal operator, with activities at more than 210 terminal facilities.” The SSA statement said the family purchsed Goldman’s share of FRS Capital, and the business magnate, Fernando Chico Pardo, then made a sizeable investment of capital in return for the 49 percent share.
(to read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2014/01/07//bellingham-coal-port-ownership-ssa-marine-change/ )
Thanks to Donna Riordan and Michel Vekved
