Currently Amalie has about 184 employees at the Tampa location, according to Madden. We anticipate adding 100 to 150 new jobs once everything is in place, he continued. That would be not only because of the new facility, but also because it would allow us to grow our other business because wed have more room.

Amalie has been in the port since 1956, and continues to grow, he noted. This is an addition that weve been looking for, for quite some time, because it will allow us to do some additional products, give us more warehouse space, and let us do additional products, such as diesel exhaust fluid.

The company hopes to get the lease agreement completed by the end of September, according to Madden. Once we do that, then we will have to decide what were going to put on that property, and exactly how were going to relocate what we have here, he added.

The companys sales have grown, which has brought about the need to hire more employees. Weve already added jobs here at our Tampa facility, because weve been selling more products, he noted. Weve added about 14 to 16 employees over and above where we were at the beginning of the year. And 2009 was our best year ever, so we added employees last year.

Both Amalie Oil Co. and Tampa Ship, a vessel repair and maintenance firm, lease land from the Tampa Port Authority. According to the authority, Amalie leases 15.9 acres of land under a 1997 lease agreement, which was scheduled to expire in June 2022 with a 10-year extension option. Amalie uses the site to operate its lube oil blending, processing and packaging facility. Tampa Ship leases 53 acres of land, also under a 1997 lease.

Both companies sites abut a 2.7 acre tract of land. Each requested a lease of the site to expand their businesses. Through negotiations, the authority said, the two parties reached a compromise that allows for expansion of both businesses.

Madden explained that amending its leases involves consolidating a series of leases on land tracts of various sizes, including the additional property, into a single one that the company will extend. So we will look at 25 or 30 years down the road before we have to go in and re-do the leases again, he pointed out.

Amalie will later construct improvements on the site. Its too early to tell how much well spend until were able to clean up the leases, get them together, and begin talking to contractors, he noted.

Amalie ships to all 50 states and about 90 countries globally, Madden said. If our export business continues to grow, we know that will help us. Our export business sustained us through 2008, he noted.