Sparrows Point Leads The Way For Baltimore’s Futuristic Re-Industrialization

Sparrows Point is synonymous with Baltimore’s rich manufacturing heritage but has been a relic of its former glory since 1984. However, since 2012 the site has experienced a revolution and is now set to bring 17,000 jobs back to Baltimore. According to Bloomberg, this includes services such as fulfillment centers, but more crucially, manufacturing is hosted too, with Harley Davidson among those represented. Sparrows Point is just one great example of how manufacturing and technology are coming together to enrich Baltimore.

Renewable technology, renewed employment

Renewable energies are very much in the public interest right now, and Baltimore and wider Maryland are set to benefit massively. According to an energy news outlet, Utility Dive, an offshore wind firm, Ørsted, are set to invest $200m on the east coast peninsula. Aside from the jobs created in engineering, they predict that there will be a big uplift in traditional industrial work. The necessity for working at height to assemble the turbines will see an increase in boom lift rental, and create jobs in other logistical areas; managing huge upgrades to the energy network will create decades of work, too.

Manufacturing for the future

Keeping with the theme of high-tech manufacturing and general sustainability, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce has highlighted some of the high-value work going on in the wider county. Of particular note is Emergent, a company that creates products to aid with public health concerns in a smart way, and who now employ 1,300 people in Maryland. According to the Chamber of Commerce, small to medium-size manufacturers like these have been absolutely crucial to reinvigorating and sustaining the manufacturing culture of Baltimore.

Changing the future?

Baltimore is nodding to its industrial past, while also shedding the dirtier, environmentally unfriendly aspects of it. Now some of the most futuristic-sounding tech going has landed in the state and is making an imprint. Tech magazine, Technical.ly, noted in June that Paragon had bought up more manufacturing space. An experimental genetic biotech company, Paragon are arguably making some of the most transformative and high-tech pieces of innovation going, and their newest research will have the MD stamp.

Maryland and Baltimore have a rich manufacturing history that had fallen by the wayside. Due to interest from smart industrial companies, this is starting to reverse. The Baltimore of the future will be once again inexorably associated with manufacturing, but it will be clean, smart and, crucially important production.