WOODBINE — A parade of hefty, ice-packed 18-wheelers had traffic jammed on Route 550 throughout Wednesday, Sept. 17 in this rural borough.
Long after the summer traffic waned, many residents in town wondered what all the commotion was at Sea Isle Ice Company, Monroe and DeHIrsch avenues.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had placed an urgent order in the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 16 for ice to be shipped to Houston, Texas as part of the Hurricane Ike relief effort, according to Sea Isle Ice Company President Joe Romano, Jr.
The Army called to place the order and stated, “We need it right now,” said Romano as he supervised employees who were abuzz loading waiting tractor trailers that waited to depart for the 1,581 mile trek to The Lone Star State.
“We started early this morning we have 50 trucks already out. We will be working throughout the night to get another 40 to 50 trucks out. It’s an open-ended order at this time,” said Romano.
According to the company’s Web site, the Woodbine plant has an output capacity of over 140 bags per minute, and can manufacture over 225 tons of ice per day.
