Federal Maritime Commission

Former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, a longtime advocate for the U.S. shipping industry and the Port of Baltimore, will be recognized tonight for her work when she is inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame in New York. Bentley, a port consultant, is being honored for a career during which she served in the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1995, chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission from 1969 to 1975; maritime reporter and editor for The Sun from 1945 to 1969 and producer and director of the 1950s television series The Port that Built a City, among other accomplishments.

Donald A. Krach, former general counsel for the Maryland Port Administration who was an advocate and goodwill ambassador for the port of Baltimore, died May 4 of complications from pancreatic cancer at his Timonium home. He was 80. "Don was a real cheerleader for our port, and he really worked hard with our clients to put more business through here," said James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration. "He had such a big personality. " "Don was one of those attorneys who came up through the state system, and he was absolutely enthusiastic about the port.

Donald A. Krach, former general counsel for the Maryland Port Administration who was an advocate and goodwill ambassador for the port of Baltimore, died May 4 of complications from pancreatic cancer at his Timonium home. He was 80. "Don was a real cheerleader for our port, and he really worked hard with our clients to put more business through here," said James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration. "He had such a big personality. " "Don was one of those attorneys who came up through the state system, and he was absolutely enthusiastic about the port.

Irvin F. Kemp Jr., a retired WMAR-TV film editor whose career spanned more than 30 years, died Jan. 9 of lung cancer at his Parkville home. He was 84. Mr. Kemp, the son of a plumber and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Kemp was drafted into the Army in 1942. He served as a military policeman, as part of an engineering unit and as a truck driver in Europe. He was discharged in 1946. After the war, Mr. Kemp went to work as a machinist in the experimental laboratory at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River.

State officials approved plans to build and lease a new automobile terminal at the port of Baltimore to a Florida-based distri- butor yesterday, a deal that one private terminal operator has called anti-compet- itive and promised to contest before the Federal Maritime Commission.The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the lease with ATC Logistics Inc., conditioned on changes that would allow for its review if construction costs at the terminal rise too high. Opponents argued that soil contamination at the Brooklyn-area site could more than double the estimated $18.6 million cost of developing it.Yesterday's unanimous vote means that the Maryland Port Administration, after revising the lease, can seek bids from developers to turn the 50-acre "Masonville" site into a marine terminal for loading and unloading automobiles.

Federal legislation to deregulate the shipping industry jeopardizes ports and threatens to throw the entire maritime industry into chaos, the head of the Federal Maritime Commission said in Baltimore yesterday.Under the bill, which cleared a key House committee last week, ocean carriers would be free to set rates and negotiate private deals with shippers. Currently, they must file tariffs and offer uniform rates coast-wide.The measure, which also would eliminate the 80-year-old Federal Maritime Commission, is part of a landmark plan to deregulate the U.S. shipping industry.

An administrative law judge for the Federal Maritime Commission has ruled that the Maryland Port Administration violated the Shipping Act of 1984 by discriminating against one of the port's major customers.Judge Charles E. Morgan said that price breaks the state of Maryland gave Maersk Line for cranes, wharfage and terminal space hurt Ceres Marine Terminal, a stevedoring company that competes with Maersk and its subsidiary, Universal Maritime Service Corp.In a dispute that ultimately could cost the MPA substantial financial damages, the judge ruled that the MPA also discriminated against Ceres by giving "unreasonable preference" to Hale Container Line Inc., a Baltimore-based barge operation.

Donald Robert Quartel, a member of the Federal Maritime Commission, called yesterday for a sweeping deregulation of the U.S. maritime industry through the substitution of market forces for the protectionism that now shields steamship lines and shipyards from foreign competition."

Although opponents have vowed to get it repealed, the nation's new "recreational vessel fee" will soon be a fact of marine life.Starting July 31, owners of recreational boats larger than 16 feet that are used in coastal or Great Lakes waters will have to display a federal decal costing $25 to $100 a year.And even though the fee is for one calendar year, it will not be prorated for 1991, according to a Coast Guard press release. So boat owners will have to buy their second decal by Jan. 1, 1992.

NOW COMES Helen Delich Bentley. Again. At 78, the crustiest woman in Maryland politics has let it be known she will run for the 2nd District Maryland congressional seat being vacated by Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Ehrlich is running for governor. Just when we thought a new generation was emerging in the Maryland Republican Party, Bentley re-emerges to prove it ain't so. Not that anyone in the party is complaining. The GOP poohbahs in Washington are so excited that they've promised Bentley that if she wins she would reclaim her seniority and her seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee in Congress where she served five terms from 1985 to 1995.

Former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, a longtime advocate for the U.S. shipping industry and the Port of Baltimore, will be recognized tonight for her work when she is inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame in New York. Bentley, a port consultant, is being honored for a career during which she served in the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1995, chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission from 1969 to 1975; maritime reporter and editor for The Sun from 1945 to 1969 and producer and director of the 1950s television series The Port that Built a City, among other accomplishments.

Helen Delich Bentley, who, at 78, would be the second-oldest member of the House of Representatives if she's elected, is daring people to call her old. "For those of you who don't know me, I've been around Baltimore for two centuries," the former congresswoman said, eliciting laughter at a political forum in a Reisterstown synagogue. "I gave birth to the port, and I'm still plugging away at it." She gave a quick speech, apologized to the crowd and left, off to a dinner for one of the main shipping lines in the port of Baltimore.

NOW COMES Helen Delich Bentley. Again. At 78, the crustiest woman in Maryland politics has let it be known she will run for the 2nd District Maryland congressional seat being vacated by Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Ehrlich is running for governor. Just when we thought a new generation was emerging in the Maryland Republican Party, Bentley re-emerges to prove it ain't so. Not that anyone in the party is complaining. The GOP poohbahs in Washington are so excited that they've promised Bentley that if she wins she would reclaim her seniority and her seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee in Congress where she served five terms from 1985 to 1995.

NOW I know what judges in the Miss America pageant go through. It's agonizing selecting from all the beauties parading before you. Only 21 people made it onto the editorial pages as The Sun's "Marylanders of the Century." Yet so many more deserved the recognition that I had no trouble compiling a second list of significant achievers. Even then, worthy men and women had to be omitted, such as former Sen. Charles McC. Mathias; writer and headmistress Edith Hamilton; Cardinal Lawrence Shehan; Commercial Credit founder Alexander Duncan; writers Anne Tyler and John Barth; and Orioles Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson.

State officials approved plans to build and lease a new automobile terminal at the port of Baltimore to a Florida-based distri- butor yesterday, a deal that one private terminal operator has called anti-compet- itive and promised to contest before the Federal Maritime Commission.The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the lease with ATC Logistics Inc., conditioned on changes that would allow for its review if construction costs at the terminal rise too high. Opponents argued that soil contamination at the Brooklyn-area site could more than double the estimated $18.6 million cost of developing it.Yesterday's unanimous vote means that the Maryland Port Administration, after revising the lease, can seek bids from developers to turn the 50-acre "Masonville" site into a marine terminal for loading and unloading automobiles.

An administrative law judge for the Federal Maritime Commission has ruled that the Maryland Port Administration violated the Shipping Act of 1984 by discriminating against one of the port's major customers.Judge Charles E. Morgan said that price breaks the state of Maryland gave Maersk Line for cranes, wharfage and terminal space hurt Ceres Marine Terminal, a stevedoring company that competes with Maersk and its subsidiary, Universal Maritime Service Corp.In a dispute that ultimately could cost the MPA substantial financial damages, the judge ruled that the MPA also discriminated against Ceres by giving "unreasonable preference" to Hale Container Line Inc., a Baltimore-based barge operation.

Helen Delich Bentley, who, at 78, would be the second-oldest member of the House of Representatives if she's elected, is daring people to call her old. "For those of you who don't know me, I've been around Baltimore for two centuries," the former congresswoman said, eliciting laughter at a political forum in a Reisterstown synagogue. "I gave birth to the port, and I'm still plugging away at it." She gave a quick speech, apologized to the crowd and left, off to a dinner for one of the main shipping lines in the port of Baltimore.

Irvin F. Kemp Jr., a retired WMAR-TV film editor whose career spanned more than 30 years, died Jan. 9 of lung cancer at his Parkville home. He was 84. Mr. Kemp, the son of a plumber and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Kemp was drafted into the Army in 1942. He served as a military policeman, as part of an engineering unit and as a truck driver in Europe. He was discharged in 1946. After the war, Mr. Kemp went to work as a machinist in the experimental laboratory at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River.

Federal legislation to deregulate the shipping industry jeopardizes ports and threatens to throw the entire maritime industry into chaos, the head of the Federal Maritime Commission said in Baltimore yesterday.Under the bill, which cleared a key House committee last week, ocean carriers would be free to set rates and negotiate private deals with shippers. Currently, they must file tariffs and offer uniform rates coast-wide.The measure, which also would eliminate the 80-year-old Federal Maritime Commission, is part of a landmark plan to deregulate the U.S. shipping industry.