Port of Sacramento Manager Mike Luken has been hearing people talk all summer about the unusual shipments arriving at his docks.
Typical comments: "'What the heck do you have over there?'" he reports. Or, "It looks like you're shipping missiles through the port."
Not missiles. Wind turbine parts.
In a boon for the port's summer business, Escondido-based enXco Inc. is delivering 11 shiploads of massive components destined for the company's new Shiloh II wind farm near Rio Vista.
About half of the parts – made in Germany and South Korea – are sitting on the ground at the port's West Sacramento facility. The rest are due in coming weeks.
Once all have arrived, they'll be transported to the Shiloh site, where 75 turbines are expected to be in operation by year's end, eventually producing 150 megawatts of electricity for PG&E, says enXco spokeswoman Sandra Briner.
These are big turbines, 271 feet high. Each has four sections and three blades that are 148 feet long. A complete unit weighs about 277 tons.
Multiply that by 75 and you have better than 20,700 tons of energy-producing parts coming through the port. It's a huge piece of business – worth about $275,000, Luken says – and likely to grow, given federal tax credits offered to wind farmers.
Is it enough to help the ever-struggling port return to profitability?
That answer may be blowin' in the wind.
Let them eat cake: It's a wonder that new hires at Freeport Bakery don't gain 10 pounds their first month on the job.
As part of their training, they get homework: Employees, many of them high schoolers, are sent home with several slices of cake each evening so they can familiarize themselves with the company's products.
After they've worked their way through cakes, new hires move on to cookies and pastries.
"The families love it," says Marlene Goetzeler, co-owner with husband Walter of the popular bakery at 2966 Freeport Blvd. "They ask, 'Can she be trained again? Can I come in for training?' "
The sales staff is also expected to know every ingredient in all of Freeport's baked goods. Especially nuts and alcohol.
Says Goetzeler: "Do you really want to sell a champagne cake to somebody for their 2-year-old's birthday?"
The company's extensive training regimen, with advanced instruction for more senior employees, is cited as a national leader in the current issue of Modern Baking magazine.
The story has no information on employee weight gains.
Going nowhere: Speaking of Freeport Bakery, its move to the Broadway corridor now looks doubtful.
The company a year ago announced plans to move from its cramped quarters in Land Park to spacious new digs about a mile away, in a mixed-used complex envisioned at 19th and Broadway.
But the new site's development has been so slow that Goetzeler figures moving there is now unlikely.
"They haven't even torn down the (existing) buildings," she says. "By the time (they're) ready for us, I'll be ready to retire."
She's still willing to relocate "if the perfect place and opportunity come up." Otherwise, Goetzeler says, Freeport Bakery will stay put and "do the best (it) can."
Many of the bakery's neighbors will be happy to hear that, she notes. After news broke about the Broadway move, she says, "I got hate mail."
Let the gaming begin: Just in time for this weekend's launch of the Olympics, Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln is airing new TV spots showing gamblers waving flags, holding bouquets and taking victory "laps," arms raised in triumph.
"Sledgehammer subtle," says Bob Beyn, president of Seraphein Beyn, describing the Olympics-themed spots his Sacramento ad agency created with Trapeze Ltd., a midtown video production firm.
The commercials run through August. Some will be placed on local sports shows. But none that carry Olympics coverage, presumably because they're too pricey, Beyn says.
Casino ads tend to be "cookie-cutter," Beyn says, showing "happy people winning and eating."
Thunder Valley's spots go for the gold, showing jubilant winners but with humorous Olympian touches.
Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.
