Cargo-box OK might yield 100 jobs in Marietta
Columbus Dispatch – A three-year effort to gain federal approval for shipping pharmaceuticals in refrigerated containers could lead to as many as 100 new jobs at a company in Marietta, Ohio.
The Federal Aviation Administration this week agreed to allow commercial and military jets to carry a refrigerated, portable cargo box manufactured by Farrar Scientific of Marietta. The decision was the culmination of a lengthy and frustrating effort by company officials to persuade the FAA that the boxes would not pose a danger to aircraft.
“If we had known what we had to go through, we might have given up earlier,” said Lew Rosenblum, the chief executive officer of Farrar. “We couldn’t even find the right person in the FAA to talk to.
“If the business goes the way we hope it will, we’ll be talking about 50 to 100 new jobs in the Marietta area over a two-year period,” Rosenblum said. The company has 11 employees.
In particular, Rosenblum credited Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and then-Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-St. Clairsville, for helping company officers to meet with the FAA officials who had the power to approve shipping the boxes.
“It just made sense to cut through the red tape and empower this Ohio company to continue the American legacy of out-innovating and out-competing the rest of the world,” Brown said in a statement. “This is further proof that when private and public sectors work together, we can see amazing results.”
