Cargo

Cargo handled by the port of Baltimore rose 21 percent during the first three months of this year, the largest quarterly increase in a decade, as the port capitalized on a boom in steel imports.General cargo at the five state-owned terminals in Baltimore jumped from 1.3 million short tons handled in the first quarter of 1993 to 1.6 million short tons, according to a report yesterday by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA).The MPA also released an economic impact study showing that 18,051 jobs are directly related to the port's existence -- with nearly half of those jobs held by Baltimore residents -- and an additional 6,625 jobs in retail and other service industries are generated indirectly by the port.

The amount of general cargo passing over state-owned piers in the first eight months of this year declined by 12.6 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the Maryland Port Administration said yesterday.For the month of August, the decline was a more moderate 4.4 percent.Bruce Cashon, the MPA's director of marketing, said the port could take some comfort from the fact that the decline for August was less than that for any other month this year.Vehicles were the brightest spot in the cargo statistics, as the port's private and state terminals combined for an 18.2 percent increase in August.

Cargo handled at the port of Baltimore's public terminals increased 18.4 percent during the first half of the year, continuing to grow at a pace that would make this year the port's best since 1988.General cargo at the five state-owned terminals in Baltimore jumped from 2.68 million short tons handled in the first half of 1993 to 3.17 million short tons during the same period in 1994, according to a report yesterday by the Maryland Port Administration. A short ton is 2,000 pounds.Port officials predict the state-owned terminals will handle more than 6 million short tons of general cargo this year, compared to 6.2 million short tons in 1988.

The volume of general cargo moving through the Port of Baltimore continued its downward slide in August, with tonnage dropping more than 4 percent from the same month a year ago. The decline leaves the port nearly 13 percent below where it was at the same point in 1989.A key barometer of port health, general cargo consists of all goods that are not transported in bulk such as grain and coal. It includes autos, lumber, steel and merchandise carried in standardized cargo containers. The bulk of the jobs at the port are related to handling of general cargo.

Cargo handled by the port of Baltimore's public terminals dropped slightly during the first quarter of the year, and port officials cautioned that last year's significant growth would taper off.General cargo moving through the five marine terminals in Baltimore declined to 1,576,189 short tons, or less than 1 percent lower than the 1,588,854 short tons during the first three months of 1994, according to a report released yesterday by the Maryland Port Administration.The...

The first woman who qualified to fly Navy combat aircraft has been reassigned to fly a cargo jet in a support squadron, Navy officials said yesterday.Lt. Shannon Workman, 28, who was removed from the USS Eisenhower in January because she had trouble landing her EA-6B radar jamming jet on the aircraft carrier, is to report in April to the Naval Air Station in Norfolk to train as a pilot on the cargo plane, said Cmdr. Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet.Lieutenant Workman, a 1988 Naval Academy graduate from Cumberland, was taken off the Eisenhower after officials found her carrier landings to be inconsistent.

State officials and maritime executives are encouraged by signs that the steady erosion of the port of Baltimore's cargo base may be ending.For the first time in more than two years, cargo volumes in the port have grown for two straight quarters, according to figures released yesterday by the Maryland Port Administration."

At least one ship line planned to begin diverting cargo away from the Port of Baltimore today, after dockworker union leaders rejected a contract proposal that management termed its "best and final" offer.Leaders of the Baltimore District Council of the International Longshoremen's Association, bargaining for four of the port's five ILA locals, yesterday voted not to submit the seven-page contract offer to their membership for a vote.There is time for further negotiating, but if neither side blinks, a strike could idle the docks when the current contract expires Friday at midnight.

The Port of Baltimore's competitors on the East Coast may fight for cargo bound for the Middle East despite an agreement between Gov. William Donald Schaefer and the Kuwaiti ambassador specifying that goods bound for Kuwait will be transported through Baltimore when possible.Under the "memorandum of understanding," to be signed in Annapolis today by Schaefer and Ambassador Shaikh Saud Nasir Sabah, U.S. companies shipping cargo to Kuwait will be told by Kuwaiti officials to route goods through the port or Baltimore-Washington International Airport "whenever it is economically feasible."