Rebuilt Sugar Refinery Combines Old and New

Brian Harrison

For men of Brian Harrison’s expertise – a “sugar man” who grew up in the business – the job of building a sugar refinery from the ground up normally takes 18 to 24 months. That’s starting with fully engineered plans, a clear construction site, and ready resources close at hand.

Rebuilding Imperial Sugar’s refinery in Port Wentworth from a devastating explosion and fire was the exact opposite experience. There wasn’t anything “normal” about it. The site was buried in tons of ash and debris – and filled with memories of co-workers who perished as a result of the tragedy.

Getting the refinery back fast was essential for hundreds of employees still employed there, and for Imperial Sugar’s future. The rebuild had to be aggressive, said Harrison. “You can’t leave a facility of this size shut down, with it bringing 60 percent of sugar production capacity for our company.”

To pull it off, Harrison and his team compressed the rebuild into about one year – from completed demolition to getting the sugar refinery production back on line. Today, Harrison leads long-time employees, plus 750 contractors, through final stages to finish the $200-plus million reconstruction.

The refinery is a stark contrast of antique brick buildings, and recently added, pre-fabricated concrete walls. Located on the Savannah River, it stands today as a testament to Old World sugar-marking traditions, and contemporary design for worker safety, food quality and operational efficiency.

Harrison’s “day job” at Imperial is vice president of sugar technology. His role expanded on February 7, 2008, when Imperial Sugar chief executive John Sheptor called him shortly after the explosion. Sheptor didn’t know the full extent of the damage then, but he knew that Harrison – whose father was a sugar industry executive – was the right person to step in and fix it.

Harrison arrived at the refinery the next morning as fire continued to burn – as it would for the next seven days. He was put in charge of the site, helping to direct fire control, rescues, clean-up and eventually, the reconstruction. The rebuilding of Imperial’s Savannah Sugar Refinery, dating back to 1917, would draw upon Harrison’s decades of experience like never before.

Looking back, Harrison refers to a time line of the rebuild’s milestones. As he runs through them one by one, he says, “The completed demolition obviously was a milestone for a lot of people here. You weren’t reminded everyday of what had occurred.” [link to chart with rebuild time line.]

New high-tech machines are being installed in the state-of-the-art packaging building – equipped with anti-static floors and firewalls. Harrison is pleased with the progress there – as he is with work throughout the site. Just as important, Harrison understands the significance for employees.

“All these positive steps, like the new machines, mean a lot to the people out there. Now, they see ‘this is one I used to run.’ In all of this time, they haven’t been able to go out and touch a machine.”

This time around, new machinery means 21st-century work for employees. “It gives them an opportunity to learn something new. These are pieces of equipment for which they’ve had extensive training,” Harrison says.

Yesterday and today come together in the rebuilt Savannah Sugar Refinery, complementing each other. Bricks from the original packaging house were given to employees or became part of Legacy Park, an on-site memorial honoring employees who died in the tragedy.

As Harrison points out, even concrete from original structures – silos, floors and foundation from the packaging house – was crushed and reused as base material for new foundations on which to build. “It was a way for us to keep some of the old with the new.”