By Molly Parker
mparker@scbiznews.com
Published Jan. 6, 2009
Before a cross section of maritime-related workers met in downtown Charleston last night, an invocation was delivered asking for peace at the Port of Charleston and help from God in sustaining jobs on the waterfront.
It’s been a rough few weeks for the maritime industry since Maersk Line — the port’s largest customer — announced it was pulling out of Charleston when its contact expires at the end of 2010.
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“When things are going right in life — it’s human nature — we take things for granted. And the state of South Carolina has taken for granted the Port of Charleston and the South Carolina State Ports Authority,” Mayor Joe Riley said.
Building bridges
The Charleston mayor was one of several dozen people who attended the meeting hosted by Citizens Related to the Port of Charleston, a new group that has formed in the aftermath of Maersk Line’s decision to pull out of Charleston when its contract expires at the end of 2010.
The crowd was mixed with shipping line representatives, port executives, trucking company owners, independent truckers, union members, commercial real estate agents and a few politicians.
But attendance at the meeting was far from overwhelming. The bulk of the folding chairs in the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium exhibition hall sat empty.
Benjamin Flowers, a longshoreman, said the meeting was not sanctioned by either the International Longshoremen’s Association or the S.C. State Ports Authority. Rather, he called the meeting to gather groups of people with ties to the port who rarely sit down in a room together.
Flowers said he would have liked to have seen more state lawmakers in attendance but that the meeting served its purpose regardless. Rep. David Mack, D-North Charleston, did make a few brief comments — the crux of his speech was about fighting for the working people — but he left right afterward, saying he had another meeting to attend.
“One thing we must come together on is that we are all somehow related to the Port of Charleston,” Flowers said.
Port pep rally
A few jabs were thrown at the SPA. A handful of SPA executives and managers were in attendance, but CEO Bernard Groseclose was not among them.
Bill Campbell of the Port Truckers Association said it was unfair for the ports authority to float Maersk a proposal that it didn’t have the authority to grant. Maersk wanted to move to the SPA’s common-user gate operated by nonunion employees, thus eliminating a few dozen union jobs. In making its decision to leave, Maersk said it was doing so because the ILA would not compromise.
“The responsibility should not fall to the ILA worker to keep Maersk here,” Campbell said. “I think they are trying to weed some of the union jobs out of this port, and it’s very important we don’t let that happen.”
Although two uniformed officers stood in the back of the room, the majority of the meeting unfolded more like a pep rally than a fierce debate.
Pat Barber, outgoing president of the Charleston Motor Carriers Association, said it doesn’t seem like the majority of folks understand how the maritime industry works.
“I don’t think we do a good enough job tooting our own horn,” Barber said.
Blaming Columbia
A fair amount of finger-pointing went toward Columbia.
Dee Sineath, a vessel operations manager with Hamburg Sud North America, said legislators should provide more state incentives for steamship lines and other maritime businesses.
Hagood Morrison, an industrial broker with Colliers Keenan, said the state needs to re-examine property tax changes it penned in 2006. The General Assembly provided substantial relief for homeowners, but the burden is “falling right on the backs of commercial users,” he said. Morrison also called on the state to fund infrastructure improvements in Jedburg, where a host of industrial buildings are planned, and in Orangeburg County, where Jafza International plans to build a large warehouse and logistics park.
Barber said support from Columbia has been weak in past years. He accused some unnamed people of “trying to be the hero” when they don’t understand how things work.
McConnell responds
State Sen. President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, who has been railing on the port in recent months, did not attend the meeting Monday night. But, when contacted Tuesday, the Charleston Republican said he did not find it fair to blame Columbia. Lawmakers signed off on $167 million for a port access road to serve the North Charleston terminal, he said, and have been actively involved in discussions aimed at keeping Maersk in town.
“I reject the idea that the Legislature has not been responsive,” McConnell said. “We’ve been very responsive.”
McConnell said he thinks it is imperative that lawmakers have an honest discussion this year about the port’s operating model, because business has declined so much. He also plans to file legislation shortly requiring a public vote for any bonuses awarded to the Port of Charleston.
He has taken exception to the $500,000 worth of incentive bonuses awarded to port employees in the fall, about $208,000 of which went to port executives. Groseclose received the most, at $27,720.
The bonuses were awarded based on an SPA board-approved plan, but the board never held a public vote before the bonuses were doled out. The SPA said that’s because the plan had already been approved and was triggered by the authority meeting its operating margin target of 32.54%. The authority’s revenues and earnings hit all-time records and it closed the past fiscal year with an operating margin of 34.28%.
But McConnell said that sends the wrong message. If there are to be bonuses, they should be based on increased business, not operating margins, he said.
“Business is down at the port, and all across state government we are cutting back,” he said, “and the port distributed bonuses like candy at a Christmas parade.”
Reach Molly Parker at 843-849-3144.
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