INKERMAN – Sevita International, a leading exporter of food grade soybeans from Canada, is looking forward to a strong year while working through overcoming obstacles related to a fire early this year.
That fire destroyed their Sandy Row processing plant February 22, and since then Sevita officials have been working to recover from the fire and rebuild that asset.
Bob Hart, VP of operations and one of the founders of Sevita, spoke to a crowd of area growers at Sevita’s soybean social hosted September 4 at the Sandy Row site about its future.
“Sandy Row is alive and well,” said Hart. “We are rebuilding and carrying on.”
Plans for the new building are with engineers who are finalizing drawings that will allow a building permit to be issued to get the physical rebuild underway.
The final concrete demolition is complete and the new facility will be built right where the fire took place.
Showing pictures of the fire’s aftermath, Hart went on to speak about the new facility that is in the works.
“It will be similar to what we had before, but with a cleaner layout that will be easier to operate,” said Hart. More automation resulting in improved capacity will be built into the facility and its new equipment.
The goal is to have the concrete poured for the new building before the winter freeze.
If they meet that target, the pre-engineered building should be up and closed-in early next year (February).
The inside structures are being built off-site and then brought to the site for installation.
Hart estimates a completion date of July 2025. “Before the next harvest,” he said.
Since the fire, Sevita’s ability to adapt and shift its operations into other facilities on site meant that the plant was actually only down for about three weeks.
“So essentially, we’ve been able to keep going through it all,” said Hart.
Anticipating a good crop during this year’s upcoming harvest, Hart knows that processing of the 2024 crop is going to be most challenging. “But, we have contingency plans in place,” he said.
Hart said that throughout, people have been fantastic, from the fire department and its response to the fire scene, to neighbours and area businesses with their offers for help.
Now as they prepare to rebuild, that goodwill has continued into allowing them to fast track the rebuild.
The Sevita International site in Inkerman produces food-grade soybeans that are exported throughout the world.
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