Maryland Port Administration

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.

Theodore K. "TK" Sanderson Jr., a retired Maryland Port Administration operations specialist who was also an avid outdoorsman, died Oct. 24 from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his White Marsh home overlooking the Bird River. He was 77. "Ted was well-respected in our organization because he was extremely knowledgeable with our operating and engineering groups," said James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration. "When putting projects together, he'd look at them and make sure that they would work, and he was the guy who merged these two groups in order to make them work," said Mr. White.

The sales force for the port of Baltimore travels the country and the world, looking for business. It could be farm equipment manufactured in the Midwest on its way to Australia or furniture coming from South America or Alabama-built Hondas headed for Russian dealerships or outdoors gear ordered by U.S. retailers. "We want it," said Richard Powers, director of trade development. Baltimore's sales plan, formed several years ago, targets autos, containers, farm and construction equipment, forest products and passenger cruises.

Louis J. "Lou" LoBianco, a highly acclaimed expert in the application of roll-on/roll-off cargo technology for the port of Baltimore, died Dec. 1 of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The longtime Towson resident — who had lived in Mays Chapel since last year — was 68. "Lou was one of the main reasons why the port of Baltimore is known today as the top roll-on/roll-off [ro/ro] port in the U.S.," said James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration.

The sales force for the port of Baltimore travels the country and the world, looking for business. It could be farm equipment manufactured in the Midwest on its way to Australia or furniture coming from South America or Alabama-built Hondas headed for Russian dealerships or outdoors gear ordered by U.S. retailers. "We want it," said Richard Powers, director of trade development. Baltimore's sales plan, formed several years ago, targets autos, containers, farm and construction equipment, forest products and passenger cruises.

The Army Corps of Engineers expects to lift navigational restrictions on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal this week after emergency dredging removed shoaling that emerged in November. At 14 miles long and 450 feet wide, the canal is a major artery for the port of Baltimore, carrying more than 40 percent of the port's shipping traffic: roll-on, roll-off cargo, cars, fuel and coal. So when an approach to the canal becomes clogged with muck that threatens to imperil as many as 50 ships that regularly make deliveries to Baltimore — as happened to the access from the Chesapeake Bay — the folks who maintain the canal will make the earth move to restore circulation.

Just after sunrise, a caravan of nearly 1,000 new cars begins streaming down the ramp of a massive cargo ship, a procession that won't end until evening. Mercedes-Benz and BMW models go one way. Land Rovers and other models go another. Some days, the routine at the port of Baltimore runs in reverse, with thousands of U.S.-made cars being loaded for overseas destinations. All that traffic means 2011 will turn out to have been a record year for the port of Baltimore's public auto terminals.

The former Navy hospital ship USS Sanctuary, which served in the aftermath of World War II and in Vietnam, has been sold and is now under tow from Baltimore to Brownsville, Texas, for recycling. The move marks the end of a 22-year residence in Baltimore Harbor that was troubled by deterioration, failed business ventures and lawsuits. The Sanctuary left the harbor Wednesday. Two suits are still pending. But the 529-foot ship's former owner — Potomac Navigation, Inc. — is in settlement talks with the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The manufacturers of Asia just got a lot closer to Baltimore. Four massive cranes at the Seagirt Marine Terminal began writing the next chapter in the region's maritime history Thursday morning as they started unloading a 981-foot cargo ship laden with containers onto waiting trucks. The cranes are the most visible symbols of a $1.3 billion public-private partnership between the Port of Baltimore and Ports America Chesapeake that allowed the expansion of Seagirt to handle the world's largest ships and gives the facility a leg up on almost every port from Maine to Florida.

Robert W. Cos, a crane equipment safety consultant who raised awareness in the 1980s of the unsafe car practice called "clipping," died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at Stella Maris Hospice. The longtime Canton resident was 65. Robert William Cos, whose parents owned John's Lunch on Pier 7, was born in Baltimore and raised on South Montford Avenue in Canton. After graduating from Patterson High School in 1964, he enlisted in the Marine Corps the next year. He served in Vietnam during the war and had attained the rank of sergeant at the time of his 1969 discharge.

The Port of Baltimore had a very good year in 2012, during which it broke several cargo records and handled more autos and farm and construction machinery than any other U.S. port ("Port of Baltimore led the nation in two cargo categories in 2012, officials say," Feb. 28). I believe it is important to recognize the efforts of some of our key partners who played major roles in helping us achieve those successes. Among those partners are the Baltimore and Philadelphia districts of the Army Corps of Engineers, who keep the channels leading to the port properly dredged and maintained for the safe passage of massive cargo and cruise vessels 24 hours a day all year round.

Port officials have asked the state Public Utilities Commission to set a flat rate for taxi services to and from the cruise ship terminal and three popular city locations. James White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, said passengers — many from out of state — have complained "that they are being overcharged and that taxi drivers are not turning their meters on. " He asked the commission to set a fare for trips to Fort McHenry, Pennsylvania Station and the Inner Harbor in the same way it established a $30 flat rate for fares to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The manufacturers of Asia just got a lot closer to Baltimore. Four massive cranes at the Seagirt Marine Terminal began writing the next chapter in the region's maritime history Thursday morning as they started unloading a 981-foot cargo ship laden with containers onto waiting trucks. The cranes are the most visible symbols of a $1.3 billion public-private partnership between the Port of Baltimore and Ports America Chesapeake that allowed the expansion of Seagirt to handle the world's largest ships and gives the facility a leg up on almost every port from Maine to Florida.

The Army Corps of Engineers expects to lift navigational restrictions on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal this week after emergency dredging removed shoaling that emerged in November. At 14 miles long and 450 feet wide, the canal is a major artery for the port of Baltimore, carrying more than 40 percent of the port's shipping traffic: roll-on, roll-off cargo, cars, fuel and coal. So when an approach to the canal becomes clogged with muck that threatens to imperil as many as 50 ships that regularly make deliveries to Baltimore — as happened to the access from the Chesapeake Bay — the folks who maintain the canal will make the earth move to restore circulation.

Two large ships being unloaded at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore shifted away from the berth where they were docked amid strong winds Wednesday night, snapping the lines tying them down and damaging a crane, according to officials at the port of Baltimore. The roll-on, roll-off ships, containing heavy machinery, farm equipment and other vehicles, are owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, one of the port's largest roll-on, roll-off customers, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

Royal Caribbean International will bring the newly renovated Grandeur of the Seas cruise ship back to Baltimore next year, officials said Tuesday. The ship, which is undergoing a $48 million modernization, will replace another cruise vessel early in 2013, according to a statement from the Maryland Port Administration. The refurbished ship will have new dining options, a new nursery and technology upgrades, including ship-wide wireless Internet service, the port administration said.

Port of Baltimore officials say they "are preparing for the worst," in the event of a longshoremen's strike at one minute past midnight Dec. 30. But that would be nothing, they say, compared with a management decision to lock out workers at the deadline — a move that would bring work on cargo ships and cruise ships to a halt. As the deadline approaches, Baltimore officials are preparing a strike plan that incorporates an accelerated work schedule next week to move as much cargo as possible, and security measures with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, the Coast Guard and Baltimore city and county police.

Some Dundalk area residents are concerned about the Maryland Port Administration 's designs on Sparrows Point, fearing the state's long-range plans to convert a corner of the old steel-making complex into a supercargo shipping terminal could literally dredge up the point's toxic legacy in the Patapsco River. An "emergency" community meeting has been called for 7 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 6) at the North Point - Edgemere volunteer fire hall, 7500 North Point Road in Edgemere. Russell S. Donnelly, a local environmental activist, said residents still sore from a seven-year fight against putting a liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point need to take a closer look at what the port is proposing to do there.