OOCL opens Salt Lake City office

   OOCL officially opened its new management and strategic center in Salt Lake City this week; staff from its U.S. headquarters in San Ramon, Calif., as well as offices in Chicago, Memphis and New York have started to move in.
   Last year, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development said that OOCL was expected to relocate or hire 300 management and professionals.
   With the company to pay more than $500 million in new state wages and more than $19 million in new state taxes over the next 20 years, Utah provided OOCL with a $4,769,804 Economic Development Tax Increment Finance, post-performance refundable tax credit, and a $953,961 grant to offset any cost associated with the move, which the company can earn, or 30 percent of the net taxes paid by the company over the lifetime of the incentive.
   The relocation of OOCL’s headquarters from the San Francisco Bay area reflects a trend by shipping companies to relocate operations, often to lower cost locations.
   Earlier this month, COSCO Container Lines America said it will form a North America Operation Center in a location still be be announced. COSCO offices in Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Henderson, New York, Norfolk, San Francisco and Seattle will be closed and functions will be transferred to the new location. Customer service and operation functions from COSCO Container Lines headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., will also be relocated to the new facility.
   In March, United Arab Shipping Company, which has long been located in Cranford, N.J., purchased a 50,000-square-foot building in Peachtree Corners, Ga., where it plans to consolidate operations currently located in Cranford,, Norfolk, Va., and Savannah, Ga. The building will house 160 employees from UASC’s logistics, accounting, finance and customer services activities, as well as executive management staff. Anil Vitarana, president of United Arab Shipping – North America, said the State of Georgia and Gwinnett County offered a generous incentive package.