A factory at the Port of Kalama has started turning blobs of molten glass into wine bottles.

The Daily News reports ( http://is.gd/aigU99) the Bennu plant plans to produce 100 million wine bottles a year.

Bennu is owned by the New York financial firm Medley Capital. It bought the glass factory for $65 million after it shut down in 2009 because of problems with a melter powered by electricity. Bennu spent another $35 million to get the plant operating again, including a $13 million furnace fueled by natural gas and liquid oxygen.

Bennu has hired 87 employees. CEO Jerry Lemieux expects the plant will cut into wine bottle imports from Mexico, China and Italy. He says Bennu will serve Northwest wineries, but a lot of bottles will go to California.

---

Information from: The Daily News, http://www.tdn.com