Great Western Malting is expanding its business at the Port of Vancouver, even as the company undergoes a reorganization and a massive seven-year construction project here.

The beer malt maker, a subsidiary of Australian grain handler Graincorp Malt, will hire 10 more people in the next two months to support the relocation of its North American headquarters from Omaha, Neb., to Vancouver, Jay Hamachek, director of North American business development for Great Western, told Port Commissioners on Tuesday. Two of those positions, in construction and environmental management, will help the company make way for a new rail access line that will cut through the heart of its facility.

The new line, part of the West Vancouver Freight Access project, will serve as a new entry to the port for trains coming through Vancouver.

The three-member port commission in November agreed to pay Great Western $32.46 million to retake more than an acre of its property for the rail project. The company has until March 31, 2013, to relocate its operations from the portion of its factory set to be demolished.

The entire project, from demolition of the factory to construction of new malting facilities and the port’s completion of the rail line, is scheduled to end in 2017.

“The trick is to keep production and employment at full levels” throughout the project, Hamachek said.

In the meantime, Great Western has reorganized its business to focus on serving craft brewers in the Pacific Northwest.

The change comes two years after the company lost its largest customer, responsible for 60 percent of its business, and cut its staff to 45 employees, Hamachek said.

Instead of one large customer, Great Western now supplies some 550 smaller craft brewers and its business is growing again. The company employs 90 workers at its Vancouver headquarters at an average starting wage of $71,500 per year.

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