The Port of Longview's involvement with the wind energy industry just got stronger with another company signing on to ship its parts through the area.

After about a year of courtship, Siemens Power Generation has agreed to ship its Pacific Northwest wind tower, turbine and part business through the port next year a deal that will bring millions of dollars to the region's economy. The port already had contracts with General Electric in 2005-06 and Vestas in 2005 to handle wind tower parts. The Siemens deal is the first to include the towers, turbines, blades and other parts within one agreement. However, the port has handled individual shipments of those parts in the past. The Siemens deal represents about 1,500 individual parts requiring 13 vessels for tower parts and six ships for turbines, blades and other components.