Kirk DeJesus , the new director of the Port of Stockton , is aware that most people , even neighbors in the Bay Area and the Capital Region , don ’ t know anything about his deepwater port . “ They think of Stockton as a farm town ,” he says , “ and don ’ t realize we have one of the largest inland ports and the fourth-busiest port in the state of California .” Ships from more than 55 countries visit the port , and the value of that cargo is about $ 1 billion annually . It also exports nearly $ 1.5 million tons of American products each year .
DeJesus enters his position as the port embarks on a significant expansion . Having recently made a number of infrastructure improvements , the port now has 400 acres of land approved for new development . And just a few months before he arrived in May 2021 , the port signed what could wind up being the biggest single deal it ’ s ever done . DeJesus says he ’ s sensitive to the fact that the port ’ s location , on an island in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta , presents unique challenges , and points to the port ’ s environmental mitigation efforts as a major focus .
How did you come from nine years in the Air Force , where you served as a pilot and a captain , to be the director of an inland deepwater port ? I can give you the fairly short version . When I got out of the Air Force I went to United Airlines and was flying international — flying to China maybe once a month . I was home a lot , and I was driving my wife absolutely crazy because I was home so much . So she said “ you need to find something else to do .” So I started appraising real estate , just randomly , back in 2000 .
After 9 / 11 I got laid off by United , and basically built an appraisal company . ... I appraised until about 2008 when the market crashed . I had a friend — our kids went to school together — who had a fertilizer packaging facility , and he needed help .
So I started working for him ( shortly before ) a company called Kinder Morgan purchased his facility , and I went with that sale .
Kinder Morgan is a midstream energy company . They do pipelines , and they also are terminal operators . I was director of operations for them for four or five years , and then went to the commercial business development side for nine or 10 years .
So I have operated at ports , dealt with customers and commodities , up and down the West Coast . I ’ ve always lived in Stockton and I had some dealings with the port . Stockton is a very tight-knit and unique community and I have a lot of ties here . ... I know the maritime industry and I know real estate . So it was just , in my mind , a natural fit . But it was something different than what the port was used to . I came in as an outsider . The previous port director had been here 21 years and the director before him also 20 or 21 years . So I ’ m definitely an anomaly for the Port of Stockton .
I think one of the things that was appealing is that I ’ ve sat on the other side of ports as a customer . And I understand what it ’ s like to deal with ports , some of the good things and bad things … and some of the frustrations .
Can you say whether there were some things you found frustrating about dealing with the Port of Stockton that you want to change now that you ’ re in charge ? To be honest with you , and I ’ m not just saying this because I ’ m here , I ’ ve said this since the beginning and I hear this from a lot of customers : Of all the ports I ’ ve dealt with , Stockton is by far the easiest to deal with from a business-minded perspective . And I find that true now that I ’ m sitting here .
As far as changing things , obviously there ’ s always going to be a little bit of change . I view things slightly differently than the previous director . … So there will be some organizational things that I look at , but nothing really dramatic . I mean , the port ’ s been working very well long before I got here .
What are the main commodities moving in and out of Stockton ? It fluctuates depending on what ’ s going on in the commodities markets . Fertilizer has always been a big commodity here . The Port of Stockton provides about 95 percent of the fertilizer that ’ s used to grow food in the Central Valley . We ’ ve seen , this year , cement imports have really picked up . Obviously , construction has picked up and there ’ s not enough cement production in the U . S . to fulfill the domestic need .
One interesting thing that I didn ’ t realize before I got here is how much rice we export . California is one of the only places in the country that grows the type of rice … that ’ s used for sushi .
How has this changed over the years ? Are there trends ? What I think we will start seeing quite a bit of is renewable-energy commodities , whether it ’ s renewable diesel or the feedstock required to make renewable diesel .
Just before I got here , the port signed a deal with a company to export soda ash . And that will be a significant change for us . There ’ s potential for effectively doubling our volume at the port with just one commodity . That could be a big change .
Soda ash is a commodity that is mined in Wyoming . It ’ s natural soda ash and it ’ s used for making a number of products … flat glass is probably the biggest one . The United States has the highest quality soda ash in the world , so it ’ s exported primarily . It had been exported from the Pacific Northwest , but a large company expanded their mining operations and wanted to have a new outlet . So they chose Stockton . … We will be exporting soda ash from Green River , Wyoming .
How did the Port of Stockton get the new business ? They had been one of three members of a supply chain logistics group , and they left so they could control their own destiny . … They looked up and down the West Coast for a couple of
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