The History of Bellingham Cold Storage

Archibald Weatherby Talbot Wooden hull minesweeper built at Bellingham Bay Shipyards.	Bellingham Cold Storage’s founder, A.W. (Arch) Talbot, first came to Bellingham in the early 1940’s to purchase a local shipbuilding company called Bellingham Bay Shipyards. The yard specialized in building wooden hull minesweepers for military contracts. After the close of WWII, the lull in shipbuilding activity allowed Arch to undertake another venture on the "Squalicum Fill" property next to the shipyard. Arch thought local fishermen and farmers could benefit from cold storage warehousing services. So in 1946 he completed the construction of warehouses 1 and 2 (18,000 sq. ft. total) and formed Bellingham Cold Storage. Some of BCS’s earliest customers included Stokely Van Camp (carrots, peas and berries) and Wakefield Seafoods (crab and fish). BCS also made block ice for local fishermen. The cold storage, like the shipyard, was built on property leased from the Port of Bellingham, and ever since the Port has played a critical role in helping BCS and its customers prosper.
Loading a railcar using new mechanical forklift (1947).	Although the shipyard closed in the mid-1950’s, the cold storage business was expanding rapidly. During the next two decades, Arch built several more warehouses at the waterfront location to meet the demand. Fresh halibut and salmon were brought in from Canada and Alaska for freezing and storage. Shipping company Western Pioneer brought its fleet of small tramper vessels to BCS to deliver Alaska seafood. Local fish processors stored their product at BCS. Also during this time, local Whatcom County farmers were expanding their crop acreage, and BCS provided the freezing and storage for their products as well. In 1959 BCS built a pea-processing line for Lynden Berry Growers and Kelly Farquhar Company.
Tilt-up panel warehouse construction.	BCS prides itself on its role in introducing many new technologies in the 50’s and 60’s: BCS was one of the first to develop and operate mechanical wet fish pumps to convey fish out of vessel holds onto the processing line; battery-powered "jitneys" or forklifts; and a variety of modern fish-processing equipment. More and more seafood companies counted on BCS for their processing needs, such as All Alaskan Seafoods, Bumble Bee Seafoods, Halibut Producers Cooperative, New England Fish Company, Northern Products, Pelican Seafoods; Peter Pan Seafoods, Sea Alaska Products, Wards Cove Packing, Yankee Fish Company and San Juan Seafoods to name but a few. On the vegetable side, Bellingham Frozen Foods (later puchased by Dean Foods) brought in as much as 50 million pounds annually of carrots, peas, and corn.
Mart Aplund, Jim Talbot, Arch Talbot	In the late 50’s, Arch Talbot's son Jim succeeded his father to become president of BCS. Mart Asplund served as general manager from 1946 to 1978.
BCS's Orchard Street facility next to Interstate-5.	By 1979 BCS had run out of property for more buildings at the waterfront "Squalicum Facility", so a 45-acre tract of land near the I-5 freeway was purchased to provide for further expansion. At this new "Orchard Facility" site, warehouses 12, 13 and 14 were built in quick succession during the 1980's. Artificial crabmeat (kanebo) processors Icicle Seafoods and Trans Ocean Products located their plants at the Orchard Facility next to the new cold storages. Warehouses 15 and 16 were built soon after, bringing BCS's total space to its current 170 million lbs. (77,000 metric tons) capacity.
Russian and American sailors onboard a Soviet processor-vessel.	In 1976, Jim Talbot founded the first Soviet-American joint venture company, Marine Resources Company International (MRCI), a partnership between BCS and the Soviet Ministry of Fisheries. The venture contracted American catcher boats to harvest underutilized species such as pollock and hake to deliver to large Soviet factory ships. The fisheries, which took place in the Bering Sea and off the Oregon Coast, grew to become one of the largest fisheries in the world in the mid 1980’s. In 1989 Bellingham formed "Sister City" ties with the Russian port city of Nakhodka where MRCI had an office. BCS maintains close business ties with the Russian Far East to this day.
The BCS team.	BCS grew dramatically in the 1990's under the leadership of president Stew Thomas. Stew strengthened ties with BCS's existing core of on-site seafood customers, as well as diversified into non-traditional activities such as distribution services, cooler storage, and freighter vessel loading. In January 1999, his son Doug took over the position of president for Stew to become Chairman of the Board. Ownership of the company remains with the Talbot family. Today BCS continues its reputation for quality and innovation by leading the industry in warehouse information technologies and expanding further into the international marketplace.