Commercial Truck Insurance in Waycross, GA

WAYCROSS, Ga. (WALB) - Gov. Brian Kemp announced on Tuesday that ADMARES, a company that specializes in the mass production of buildings and homes using prosperity technology, plans to construct its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Waycross.

“Projects like this prove that in every part of the state, Georgia has what job creators look for,” Kemp said. “We’re proud to welcome ADMARES to the No. 1 state for business and thankful for their decision to locate in a rural part of Georgia, as so many other companies have done in recent years. This project will not only bring more opportunities to hardworking Georgians, it will also help innovate the home building industry at a time when we need more rural workforce housing.”

The new facility is expected to create over 1,400 new jobs and invest $750 million in Ware County.

ADMARES is a company that originates from Turku, Finland. The organization is in the process of relocating its headquarters to the U.S. while continuing to leverage its innovative technology, Kemp’s office said in a release.

“Waycross, Georgia is an ideal location for a transportation hub with easy access to major highways and extensive rail connections. Its proximity to the Port of Brunswick, one of the busiest ports on the eastern seaboard, offers a competitive advantage for global trade. Waycross’ strategic location and robust infrastructure make it an attractive destination for us in the region,” said Mikael Hedberg, founder and CEO of ADMARES.

ADMARES has selected a greenfield site to construct a 2.5-million-square-foot build-to-suit facility. It will be located along Highway 23.

The manufacturing facility will specialize in producing buildings for the housing sector and is expected to begin production in late 2025, the release states.

The company will be hiring for administration, management, engineering and IT positions, along with logistics, assembly, robotics maintenance and production positions.

“(Waycross welcomes) ADMARES, the newest corporation to join our thriving community in Ware County, Georgia. ADMARES’ initiative to build homes not only contributes to the growth of our economy but also provides homes for countless families,” Michael-Angelo James, Waycross mayor, said. “We look forward to seeing the positive impact that ADMARES will have on our beloved city, and we thank them for choosing to be a part of our community.”

Copyright 2023 WALB. All rights reserved.

A Finnish company is planning an expansive factory in south Georgia to advance its goal of disrupting the housing industry by building homes on a robot-driven assembly line rather than on a traditional construction site.

ADMARES is building one of six planned smart factories globally in Waycross, with plans to employ 1,400 people and investing $750 million. Production is slated to start in 2025.

Based in the city of Turku, Finland, ADMARES said it is in the process of moving its headquarters to the United States. The company has been applying its founders’ expertise in ship-building and other offshore industries to the modular construction sector for about a decade. Projects thus far have focused mainly on hospitality, with ADMARES providing prefabricated rooms or entire hotels for major brands. The company has also produced floating villas in the Middle East, Europe and beyond.

Now, aided by an array of German partners, the Finnish firm is embarking on an ambitious global expansion, placing smart factories in strategic markets around the world.

ADMARES has been working since 2015 with Porsche Consulting and MHP (a consulting firm owned by Porsche) on the design of its factories, which will use connected devices and software provided by Siemens to bring manufacturing practices from other sectors into housing, a heavily regulated space that has been stubbornly slow to change despite the promise of 3D-printed homes and other emerging innovations.

Using Siemens design software, each home will have a “digital twin,” a method used in the creation of complex physical products that enables simulation, testing and monitoring on a digital representation of the object. Homeowners will have ongoing access to information about their home, including air quality data, throughout its life cycle. All units will be tested in the controlled environment of the factory prior to being sent to the assembly site. In 2021, ADMARES said it put together a building in Brooklyn in two days. In addition to single-family homes, the company builds multi-family buildings and townhomes.

ADMARES is betting that its momentum will enable it to build with scale at a time when housing construction is hindered by rising costs and a lack of available labor.

“The unavailability of workforce is an urgent issue for the construction industry globally. Our technology offers a solution, as there’s no need for traditional construction site or traditional construction workers,” Mikael Hedberg, CEO and founder of ADMARES, said in a release announcing the construction of a pilot home with Siemens.

Georgia officials praised the firm as potentially providing a solution to the “workforce housing” issues the state has been trying to solve. Lack of affordable housing stock is seen as limiting manufacturing growth, as employees forced to live farther from their jobs are less likely to build a career track with their employers.

“Workforce housing is a growing national challenge, and Georgia is no exception. The new ADMARES facility is helping address that challenge, filling a niche that is critical to economic development,” said GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson.

Housing got a mention in Gov. Brian Kemp‘s State of the State address earlier this year, as the governor proposed a $35 million fund to support rural workforce housing.

The Pendleton Group is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Economic Development Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Economic Development newsletters.

WAYCROSS, Ga. (WSAV) – Those who knew, loved and respected Sgt. Kennedy Sanders lined up outside the Waycross city auditorium for her viewing on Friday.

She was one of three Army reservists from Georgia killed in a drone strike in Jordan last month.

“Once you’re alongside, you understand how things are and just how scary they can be, but the mission has to be completed. She can attest to that,” said Spc. Shaunteria Taylor. “That’s one thing that she prides herself on, besides just the person, she was a soldier. She definitely has completed the mission.”

Taylor and Sanders met at their home Army Reserve base in Tifton. She says if you saw them together, they were probably shooting hoops on the basketball court with friends.

Now, Taylor is carrying her friend’s contagious laugh and smile in her heart.

“Pretty much anyone in our unit can attest to who she was as a person,” Taylor said. “She was always the same person any time you saw her. I’ve never seen her without a smile on her face.”

Taylor said that even on this sad occasion, it’s important to keep that smile in mind.

“I bet she’s in heaven right now, smiling and laughing and just so happy that not even only that we’re here honoring her, but more so we came together,” she said. “And that’s what she brought herself in, making sure everybody was one unit.”

Gov. Brian Kemp also made the trip south to the small town. Hand in hand with his wife, Marty, he told the family how much the state appreciates and supports them.

“Just incredible resilience. She gave the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our country, and our state is grateful for that,” Kemp said. “I just told them that we appreciated her service and her giving the ultimate sacrifice and let them know that this is a grateful state. They told us both just how much support they’re getting from the local community, and that has been incredible.”

Waycross Commission member Katrina Felder has helped organize recent events for Sanders. She says it’s important to give honor where honor is due.

“Kennedy truly deserves the honor. As a community, we wanted to make sure that she was well represented. We are so grateful for the community and the support that we have received, not just locally but abroad and across the nation,” Felder said.

Sanders will lie in honor at C.C. McCray City Auditorium (865 Pendleton St.) until 8 p.m. Friday.

Those offering their condolences are asked to participate in the public viewing based on the following schedule and the first letter of their last name:

Sanders’ funeral will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Ware County Middle School Auditorium (2301 Cherokee St.) followed by a procession through the city of Waycross.

Her burial will be held at Oakland Cemetery (2410 Alice St.).

In lieu of flowers, the Sanders family has asked that contributions be made via Zelle to her mother, Oneida Oliver-Sanders at 912-387-9483.

The Waycross Fire Department says most of its service calls are for downed trees and powerlines. The roof of an school in Brantley County blew off during storm

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Southeast Georgia communities are cleaning up after the impact of Hurricane Idalia Wednesday.

In Ware County, the Waycross Fire Department says most of its service calls are for downed trees and powerlines.

Driving around Ware County, First Coast News crews observed a large pine tree that fell, slicing into the front dining room of a home and totaling the owner's car on Euclid Avenue. Another tree on the campus of South Georgia State University damaged a satellite dish in front of the Education building.

American Lube Fast on Memorial Drive in Waycross was also damaged. The glass on the front of the building shattered and chairs from the lobby were seen on the lawn. The business was closed Wednesday. Traffic lights dangled from intersections.

Chief of Waycross Fire Department David Eddins says the department has extra staff responding to calls.

"I ask that they be patient because there's going to be debris that has to be cleaned up and things and some of the services were accustomed to in normal conditions: garbage pickup, mail services, things like that, those potentially are going to be delayed because of the conditions out on the street so just be patient," Eddins said.

Eddins says if wait times are longer than usual, don't handle downed power lines yourself.

"Assume that every line that you see regardless if you think its a cable line, electrical line, don't grab them," Eddins said. "Thinking you can clear it out, leave things where they are at."

Furthermore, the hurricane caused the roof of a building with sixth grade classrooms at Hoboken Elementary School to blow off in Brantley County, Georgia.

Brantley County Schools Superintendent Kim Morgan says thankfully the school was closed when the roof was destroyed.

The new school year started just under a month ago and mother Brittany Beers says she can't believe the damage done to her daughter's school.

"I am shocked, extremely shocked because it's Georgia," Beers said. "I used to live in Florida and I left Florida from the hurricane and now I'm freaking out trying to get to my house hoping that it is okay."

Morgan says the damage will not cause long-term closures and that the classrooms affected, will be relocated to other parts of the school.

"The insurance team has already began assessing damage and the restoration company will be here in the morning [Thursday] to begin repairs," Morgan said in an email.

All Brantley County Schools are closed Thursday because of the damage and power outages in the area.

Waycross, Georgia, United States--Enviva Partners, LP (“Enviva”), NYSE: EVA, a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bio-energy, announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of a world-class, industrial scale wood pellet production plant in Waycross, Georgia; the newly acquired Waycross plant, which is now called, “Enviva Pellets Waycross,” has been operating since 2011 and has a production capacity of approximately 800,000 metric tons per year, which is A world record for the World's Largest Wood Pellet Plant, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

official website says.

"Enviva is a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy. We are the world’s largest producer of sustainable wood pellets, which provide a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels.

"We operate plants and ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, with corporate offices in four countries."

Biomass Magazine says.

"At a total cost of about €120 million (about $195 million), the plant and surrounding structures, as well as development of a port, took just over one year to construct.

"Wood pellets produced at the plant will be transported via train to the port of Savannah, Ga., about 100 miles away from the facility, and then shipped to Europe. They will be used primarily by RWE’s coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands, where up to 30 percent of coal-fired power plants are already cofired with biomass, according to the company."

"The plant will have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes, making it the biggest and most modern of its type in the world. The project will be carried out in collaboration with BMC Management AB, which specialises in the development of biomass manufacturing solutions and is based in Sweden. The pellets will be used in pure biomass power plants as well as for the co-firing of coal and biomass. The pellets plant is due to take up operation in 2011. The total investment volume amounts to approx. €120 million," the official Press Release said.

"The biomass pellets will initially be burnt in the existing power plants of Amer in the Netherlands, where currently already up to 30% of the hard coal has been replaced by solid biomass, mainly wood pellets. The considerable volumes of biomass from Georgia will also help us achieve our goal of expanding this cofiring to up to 50%. The CO ₂ reductions achieved will be of a corresponding level. The two power plant units belong to Essent, which RWE took on as a result of the partnership both companies entered in September 2009. They have a total installed capacity of 1,245 MWel as well as 600 MWth. They generate electricity for the equivalent of three million households.

"Forests in Georgia provide enough wood to sustainably produce the pellets. Around 1.5 million metric tonnes of fresh wood are needed each year to produce 750,000 tonnes of pellets. Unlike Europe, the US have a huge growth surplus of wood that is not used. This is particularly true in the Georgia region, from which numerous paper and pulp companies have withdrawn over the past decade, thus further reducing the demand for wood. Wood growth is currently ahead of consumption in Georgia."

"RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the United States. The company is the world's second-largest offshore wind power generation and Europe's third-largest company in renewable energy. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, the RWE Group was ranked as the 297th-largest public company in the world," the Wikipedia says.

"RWE confirmed in December 2015 that it would separate its renewable energy generation, power grid and retail operations into a separate company, Innogy SE, during 2016, and sell a 10% holding in the business through an initial public offering. The restructuring was prompted by efforts to reduce the group's exposure to nuclear decommissioning costs, required due to a German government policy of closing all nuclear power stations by 2022.

"In July 2020, RWE completed a far-reaching asset swap deal with E.ON first announced in 2018, whereby the international renewable generation portfolio of E.ON and Innogy were transferred to RWE."

"Innogy SE was an energy company based in Essen, Germany. It is now merged and integrated into German energy company E.ON. In March 2018, it was announced that E.ON would acquire Innogy, in a complex deal of assets swap with RWE. The transfer of shares was completed in September 2019.

"The company was created on 1 April 2016, by splitting the renewable, network and retail businesses of RWE into a separate entity. The new entity combined RWE subsidiaries RWE Innogy, RWE Deutschland, RWE Effizienz, RWE Vertrieb and RWE Energiedienstleistungen.

"On 7 October 2016, it was listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. They served 23 million customers in Europe. In November 2017, it was announced that Innogy was looking to merge its energy retail subsidiary npower in the United Kingdom, with the equivalent division of rival SSE." (Wikipedia)

Florida Times Union says.

"Perdue said economic development is all about finding a way to match the state's strengths with a company's needs. In this case, the match between Georgia Biomass and Southeast Georgia "absolutely hits the sweet spot," he said.

"Biomass can be considered a green energy because the carbon emitted by burning fuel pellets is offset by the carbon absorbed when trees are grown, he said."

"Enviva Partners, LP (“Enviva” or the “Partnership”), a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of a world-class, industrial scale wood pellet production plant in Waycross, Georgia, and associated contracted terminal capacity in Savannah, Georgia. Enviva’s growing operational footprint across the U.S. Southeast now includes nine wood pellet production plants and five deep-water export terminals across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida," the NASDAQ says.

"The newly acquired Waycross plant has been operating since 2011 and has a production capacity of approximately 800,000 metric tons per year, all of which is exported through the Port of Savannah to Enviva’s customers under long-term take-or-pay off-take contracts, many of which extend until the mid-2040s. Following the acquisition, Enviva’s total annual wood pellet production capacity is approximately 4.9 million metric tons. With the acquisition complete, the Waycross plant is now called, “Enviva Pellets Waycross.”

"The Waycross plant acquisition diversifies Enviva’s manufacturing footprint and expands its operations in a region that supplies one-fifth of the timber used globally each year. Enviva currently is integrating the plant into the wider Enviva organization and looks forward to working closely with local leaders, private forest landowners, and conservation organizations to continue to make a positive impact across the State of Georgia."

World's Largest Wood Pellet Plant: Waycross, Georgia

Enviva Biomass Waycross

Address: 3390 Industrial Blvd, Waycross, GA 31503, United States

Phone: +1 912-490-5293