[
40
]
The Port of Baltimore
■
January/February 2014
BY MERRILL WIT T Y
From Baltimore Terminal, Tomas Stays
Connected to Liberian Rubber Farm
PORT
PERSON
KATHY BERGREN SMITH
A
s Assistant Terminal Manager for the Firestone
Natural Rubber Company, Baltimore’s Jennifer
Tomas has an important connection with West
Africa.
“We operate the world’s largest natural rubber
farm,” she said. “It’s in Liberia, where we have schools, a
hospital and housing for our staff.”
The farm is called Harbel — named after Firestone founder
Harvey Firestone and his wife Idabelle — “and usually shows up
on a Liberia, West Africa map,” according to Tomas. “It’s like a
little town, comparable to Sparrows Point when it had housing
and a store for its employees.”
Firestone Liberia has millions of rubber trees planted on
about 100,000 acres of land. Along with achieving its business
goals, the company aims to enhance the quality of life for all
Liberians by being involved at a community level, providing jobs,
housing, education, food and healthcare as it helps rebuild the
country after years of civil strife.
From the Port of Baltimore, where Firestone has operated
since the late 1940s, “we send over everything from hospital,
electrical and plumbing supplies to building materials, tractor/
vehicle parts, fertilizer, etc.,” noted Tomas.
In her role as Assistant Terminal Manager, Tomas oversees
the daily shipping, receiving and operations. “My staff at the
terminal helps the company run like a well-oiled machine,” she
explained.
In addition to exporting materials needed for Harbel’s opera-
tions, Firestone’s Baltimore terminal sends “donation cargo”
that supports the Firestone Medical Center in Duside, Liberia.
The hospital hosts volunteer doctors from Children’s Surgery
International (CSI) and provides free surgeries for kids
in need.
“We also sent our vessel with relief goods to Haiti
after the earthquake devastated that country,” Tomas
said. “We in turn import containers of natural latex
and store the material in our 42-tank warehouse
located at the North Locust Point Marine Terminal.”
The terminal has recently switched from bulk
receipts to containerized latex. “We used to have
two vessels that pumped liquid latex via a pipeline
into our warehouse,” Tomas said. “Our vessels
became too old for transporting bulk latex and
A Positive
Force for
FIRESTONE
