No jobs lost in warehouse fire, company will rebuild

PARIS — The owner of NEPW Logistics, which last week suffered one of the most dramatic and far-reaching fires in state history — involving nearly 200 firefighters from 53 towns over four days — says no workers will lose their jobs as a result of the devastation.

Drew Gilman, of Cape Elizabeth, is one of three owners of the warehousing and transportation company, which takes in pulp by rail from Canada and distributes it on demand, as needed, to paper mills across Maine. 

The company was founded as New England Public Warehouse in 1988, using a 187,000-square-foot building once occupied by the A. C. Lawrence tannery.  Since then, the facility has expanded to 233,000-square-feet and six additional locations. 

Gilman bought the company in 2002 and, the next year, changed its name to NEPW Logistics.  Despite the company’s growth, Gilman says Paris remains vital to its operations, thanks to a spur of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic rail line that can handle 11 rail cars at a time, 22 per day, each loaded to the brim with 500-pound squares of pulp the size of a hay bale.

Paper mills generally keep no more than a 30-day supply of pulp on hand at any one time.  The issue they face, Gilman says, is that product from the Canadian plants does not flow at a steady rate.  It comes out in spurts, necessitating the need to warehouse product.

That product he says, is easily worth “millions” of dollars. 

“In fact, even before the fire, what was in the building was more valuable than the building itself,” he says.

It’s too soon to put a dollar figure on the loss, says Gilman, who’s been sequestered away, nearly nonstop, with agents from for different insurance companies.

However, Gilman is clear on two points. 

First, despite early assumptions, his Paris employees were not put out of work by the fire.

“Our business goes 24/7 and everyone is still at work,” said Gilman, Tuesday.  “We are working full throttle.”

Seven office employees are now working out of NEPW’s Mechanic Falls site, where phone and internet line already have been transferred.  The 22 warehouse employees have been shifted to a variety of functions, from continuing work at new, leased locations, performing inventory checks to determine how much of the Paris material is salvageable, and giving tours to insurance reps.

“We’re definitely not laying anyone off,” says Gilman.  “I wouldn’t do that to people at this time of year, anyway.”

Gilman says that, in the short term, he has leased warehouse space in Oxford from John Schiavi and in Auburn from Safe Handling.  Product will be hauled from the rail lines using NEPW’s fleet of 40 tractor-trailor trucks, while Gilman continues the search for additional space.

“It can be hard to create 200,000-square feet of storage space all in one shot” says Gilman.

The second point Gilman stresses is that NEPW will remain a presence in Paris.  Because of the rail spur, the property itself has a high degree of value.  The only real question is, can the old tannery building be rebuilt, or should NEPW knock it down and make a fresh start.

“That’s really way up in the air, right now,” says Gilman.  “We’re going over things with insurers and inspectors and structural engineers to determine the best course of action.”

For now, Gilman says, the top priority is to keep product flowing, whatever the additional cost.  And that cost, he said, without putting a price tag on it, is “very expensive.”

The one saving grace, he says, is that a number of mills were on short-term shutdowns, meaning there is less demand for storage at the moment than there might ordinarily be this time of year.

But will a disruption in the supply chain create a ripple that might prolong those shutdowns.  No, says, Gilman.  That’s one reason why he’s scrambling to secure short-term warehouse space.

“I strongly believe that we will be able to bring in all the pulp that was scheduled to come in and, although it may cost more to truck it, we’ll get it our customers in a way that is as seamless as possible,” said Gilman.

Still, getting back up to speed and humming on all cylinders will be a long process, he said, which could take as long as six months to a year.

“Working in the paper industry, every day is challenge,” said Gilman.  “What gets me out of bed every morning is knowing that this is just one more challenge.  We’ll figure it out.”