Benicia's Port Could Get New Green Automaker

An electric car manufacturer may come to Benicia's port, which has city officials excited about the jobs it would bring and the addition of a green business.

CODA Automotive may bring its assembly facility here it if it can finalize a deal with Amports, an automotive processing services company that holds the lease on the Benicia wharf.

"It's exciting," Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said.  "A perfect fit for our community. Kudos to Jimmy Triplett  (a senior vice president of operations for Amports) and Amports."

Triplett told the Los Angeles Business Journal that Amports and CODA have a preliminary agreement and that he expects it to be finalized in a couple weeks.

The article in the Business Journal indicates the facility would bring about 100 jobs to Benicia. It also said the move to Benicia could be temporary has CODA continues to talk to Los Angles about locating there.

While Amports has a long history of processing cars coming through the Port of Benicia, the CODA deal would involve a slightly different business model.

Instead of the cars being delivered directly to Benicia by ship, the cars would be loaded into containers in China and shipped to the Port of Oakland.  Once there they'd be loaded onto trucks and delivered to Amports' 645-acre Benicia facility.

"Final assembly will be done in Benicia," said Randy Scott, Amports Benicia general manager. "We'll be putting several components on the cars, including the central power train unit – the battery."

Scott says Amports would use existing facilities for the final assembly and that there are no plans for either CODA or Amports to build new facilities.  "We're a partner in logistics," Scott said.

Asked if there were plans to bring container ships, he said there are shoals between here and the Golden Gate that prohibit new container ships from getting to Benicia. Referring to the large boxy car carrier ships normally seen tied up at the Port of Benicia he said, "The ROROs (Roll on/Roll off) have a shallower draft."

"It's about jobs, jobs, jobs," Patterson said. "These are jobs in a growth industry.  CODA is taking an old manufacturing model and growing it into a green revolution."