‘A-lister’ picked to head State Ports Authority

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A Savannah native who is the American president of German steamship line Hapag-Lloyd has been selected to head the S.C. State Ports Authority. Sources say Jim Newsome is at the top of the short list of candidates. Because a contract has not been signed, SPA officials declined to confirm the selection. But Newsome is widely believed to be headed this way.

By Molly Parker
mparker@scbiznews.com
Published June 5, 2009

A Savannah native who is the American president of German steamship line Hapag-Lloyd has been selected to head the S.C. State Ports Authority.

Sources say Jim Newsome tops the short list of candidates handpicked by a selection committee. The panel has been searching for a new CEO for the agency for five months. Because a contract has not been signed, SPA officials declined to confirm the selection; but Newsome is widely believed to be headed this way.

An assistant in Newsome’s Hapag-Lloyd office in Piscataway, N.J., said he was out of the country and was unavailable today because of the time difference.

Newsome

Maritime consultant Ron Brinson said the selection of Newsome is a coup for the SPA, particularly because the state entity has been the focus of such intense political scrutiny in recent months.

“It’s a surprising result given the unsettled governance issues surrounding the port,” said Brinson, who ran the American Association of Ports between 1979 and 1986 and was the CEO of the Port of New Orleans for 16 years after that. “It’s pretty remarkable. Anyone who knows anything about the maritime industry will tell you this guy is truly an A-lister.”

Newsome joined Hapag-Lloyd in 1997 and took over as president on Jan. 1. In doing so, he became the company’s first-ever non-German president of Hapag-Lloyd America.

Prior to joining Hapag-Lloyd, Newsome spent 10 years with Nedlloyd Lines Corp. based in Atlanta. In addition to several senior management positions, Newsome served as executive vice president of the Americas for Nedlloyd Lines.

He joined Nedlloyd Lines after a decade-long career with Strachan Shipping Co., where he rose to the rank of president of the company’s Hoegh Lines Agencies subsidiary in Jersey City, N.J.

Newsome earned a bachelor’s degree in transportation and logistics in 1976 and a MBA in the same subject in 1977 from the University of Tennessee. The program is the same one that longtime SPA director Don Welch attended.

“This guy is Don Welch with a maritime background,” Brinson said.

Welch served as chief executive of the SPA for more than a quarter century before retiring in 1997. During that time, he positioned the Port of Charleston to serve as a major container terminal and oversaw the development of the Wando terminal that now bears his name. Welch died Jan. 27. When he retired from the ports authority in 1997, he was replaced by Bernard Groseclose, who served in that role until he resigned in January.

Political pressure was mounting on the SPA when Groseclose offered his resignation. The SPA has been searching for a new CEO since then.

If Newsome moves to Charleston, he will come on board at a time of transition and uncertainty for the ports authority.

In December, Maersk Line announced it would be pulling its business out of Charleston by 2011. In late May, lawmakers passed legislation aimed at adding new oversight regulations to the SPA and new resume requirements for its board members.

Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed that legislation, but the veto is expected to be overridden. Meanwhile, Sanford has been calling for the SPA to privatize some or all of its operations and lease terminal space to private operators.

After Groseclose resigned, Sanford indicated he would take an active role in picking a replacement CEO.

On Friday, spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor did not speak to Newsome during the interview process. “But I believe they spoke after the selection was made,” Sawyer said.

Asked whether the governor was comfortable with Newsome, Sawyer said, “It is up to the Ports Authority to make the decision.”

Newsome is married and has two college-age children.

Reach Molly Parker at 843-849-3144.