An excellent article about the factory:
"A sugary-sweet landmark
February 9, 2017 Rachel Ponder, APG News All Things Maryland
BALTIMORE — Every evening, the “Domino Sugars” sign lights up the night sky in Charm City. The iconic sign, visible from the Inner Harbor, is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Baltimore. It is part of the 30-acre Domino Sugar refinery, a facility that produces 14 percent of the nation’s cane sugar.
According to Peter O’Malley, vice president of Corporate Relations for American Sugar Refining, Inc., on average, 6.6 million pounds of raw sugar are refined each day at the plant. The state-of-the-art facility in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore produces more than 40 different products and manages 23 different packaging lines, including 2,000 pound bags used by industrial food makers and single-serving sugar packets primarily found in restaurants and coffee shops.
“We produce about 350 million packets a day,” he said.
Specialty products manufactured at the plant include brown sugar, powdered sugar, molasses and pharmaceutical grade sugar.
The American Sugar Refining Company opened the Baltimore Domino Sugar plant in 1922. At the time, “it was a huge deal for business leaders and elected leaders to get a facility this size here, because it meant so many jobs,” O’Malley said.
The refinery was constructed in an ideal location for the industry, he added, by residing on a deep water port. Sugar cane, which is grown in the tropics and subtropics, is transported to the refinery by large cargo ships. On average, 42 vessels a year deliver raw sugar to the refinery from all over the world.
The raw sugar is transported from cargo ships to a large facility called the “raw sugar shed,” which can hold up to 85 million pounds of raw sugar.
Another advantage of the Baltimore refinery is its proximity to major highways like Interstate 95 and Interstate 83. On average, about 33,000 trucks transport products from the facility each year. Trains aid in the transportation of Domino Sugar to national soft drink and food companies across the country.
Domino Sugar and the local economy
O’Malley said Domino Sugar is a major source of personal, business and government revenue in Baltimore City and the state Maryland. Approximately 33 percent of Domino Sugar employees live in Baltimore City.
“I think the real unique thing here is that after 95 years, we are still here and providing great jobs and career paths for so many people,” O’Malley said.
The Baltimore refinery is part of the ASR Group, the world’s largest refiner of cane sugar.
Iconic sign
The “Domino Sugars” blood orange neon sign measures 120-feet by 70-feet, and was installed in 1951 on the roof of the refinery. Triangle Sign & Service, out of Arbutus, maintains the sign.
“We are told that it is the largest neon sign in the country,” O’Malley said.
According to an article in the Baltimore Sun published on Nov. 3, 2007, film director Barry Levinson, from Baltimore, featured the sign two of his movies,
“Diner,” released in 1982 and “Tin Men,” released in 1987. It also appeared in the television show, “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “The Wire.”
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