Pinnacle Logistics, a Dallas-based cargo management company, will begin operating out of T.F. Green Airport this month. The move — a result of an agreement reached between Pinnacle, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and the Quonset Development Corporation — will bring as many as 300 jobs to the Ocean State.
In addition to working out of T.F. Green, Pinnacle entered a contract to operate out of Quonset Business Park. The proximity of these locations will facilitate cargo operations for the company, said Rhode Island’s Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor.
Quonset approached Pinnacle when it “became aware of Pinnacle’s interest in a facility in Rhode Island though our real estate broker,” said David Preston, a spokesperson for Quonset.
“Their most urgent need was to hire lots of employees quickly,” said Michael Healey, Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training chief of public affairs. The state is taking an active hand in acquainting Pinnacle with job-seeking Rhode Islanders through the Business Workforce Center, a part of the Department of Labor and Training. “We’re trying to connect Pinnacle to people that they want to hire,” Healey said.
New hires will work at either the T.F. Green Airport or Quonset Business Park. According to EmployRI, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training’s job-matching service, positions with Pinnacle include ramp agents, who service cargo planes at the airport, warehouse agents and other driver or manager positions. By the beginning of October, Pinnacle had already “hired 170 ramp agents and 10 to 15 drivers,” Healey said.
It is no coincidence that Pinnacle has decided to set up operations in Rhode Island, Pryor said. Rhode Island has implemented initiatives to help “create an environment that’s conducive to business,” such as lowering the corporate minimum tax and corporate income tax and eliminating the tax on energy for business, he added.
According to the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, the state’s corporate income tax rate is 7 percent and the corporate minimum tax is $450.
Pryor hopes that the agreement will generate “economic energy” for Rhode Island. Although the unemployment rate dipped down in September to 4.2 percent, according to the Providence Business News, some Rhode Islanders still struggle to find employment in the state. “We’re always trying to help jobless Rhode Islanders,” Healey added.
