Port

Cooper/T. Smith, a nationally prominent stevedoring company, is closing its operation here, in the latest in a series of blows at the port of Baltimore that foreshadows a sharp downturn in the coming year.The Mobile, Ala.-based company which hires longshoremen to load and unload steamships began operations here two years ago, saying it hoped to attract cargo that would produce more jobs for the port.But recently, the company told state officials it would not renew its lease at the North Locust Point marine terminal.

Port City Bass Anglers will be sponsoring the 9th annual Kid's Fishing Festival June 9 at Bynum Run Park on Churchville Road in Bel Air. At this event, junior anglers will participate in a tournament and have a fun day of fishing that will be split into two age groups from 5 years old through 15 years old. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. at the park entrance. The event will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Members of Port City will assist each youth in the competition. Prizes and trophies will be given out to the youth during and at the end of the event.

Although it leads the East Coast in several categories of shipping activity, the port of Baltimore often seems to be hiding in plain sight. So officials used the Saturday observance of National Maritime Day to throw open a pier at the Canton Marine Terminal and invite 28 businesses and agencies that call the port home to hold a career day. "It's the first time we've done this," said former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, for whom the port is named....

Although it leads the East Coast in several categories of shipping activity, the port of Baltimore often seems to be hiding in plain sight. So officials used the Saturday observance of National Maritime Day to throw open a pier at the Canton Marine Terminal and invite 28 businesses and agencies that call the port home to hold a career day. "It's the first time we've done this," said former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, for whom the port is named....

State officials, already bedeviled by the toxic chrome leaking into Baltimore's Inner Harbor from the former Allied-Signal plant, have discovered that small amounts of chrome ore tailings buried under the Dundalk Marine Terminal are seeping into the Patapsco River.Environment Secretary Martin W. Walsh Jr. and Transportation Secretary Richard H. Trainor, who is chairman of the Maryland Port Commission, met this week to discuss the findings of a recently completed site inspection by E. A. Engineering Science and Technology Inc. of Hunt Valley, port and environment officials said yesterday.

Twenty-eight companies at the Port of Baltimore will be taking part in a job fair on May 18 at Canton Pier 13 as part of National Maritime Day observances. The free event will showcase the companies and careers at the public and private terminals and at the surrounding maritime industries. The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sen. Barbara Mikulski will lead a wreath laying ceremony aboard the NS Savannah at 11 a.m. The pier is at 4601 Newgate St.

The Sun obituary about Dr. Mildred Otenasek (Nov. 26) failed to mention one very important civic contribution back in 1955 and 1956. Then-Gov. Theodore McKeldin included Dr. Otanesek on the committee to change the Port of Baltimore and make it more competitive with neighboring ports. Even though she then was the Democratic National Committeewoman, she never once played politics but stepped in full tilt to learn about the problem - how railroad ownership and control of Baltimore's port inhibited it from competing with the other East Coast ports - and she expended every effort to help establish a public agency to take over.

With a little more than two weeks to go before a contract extension between East Coast and Gulf dockworkers and port operators expires, the federal mediator said Thursday that progress is being made toward a long-term settlement. George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said the International Longshoremen's Association representing 14,500 union members and United States Maritime Alliance, which represents 14 ports and shipping companies, met between Tuesday and Thursday, and have agreed "that the negotiations will continue under our auspices.

After three years of deficits at the Maryland Port Administration, legislators and other state officials should welcome new port Director Adrian Teel's promise to operate in the black by 1993. But if he is to make good on that promise, he will also need their support in shaping up the port administration and restoring a sense of doing business in a way that makes sense and that repays the taxpayers' investments in the port.The cutbacks in port staffing Teel announced last week are one part of this strategy.

A year ago, the Port of Baltimore was struggling to keep from sinking to the level of a "feeder" port. What had once been a major U.S. destination for world trade was turning into a secondary docking point. Yet even in the midst of a long recession, new officials started to turn things around.Instead of losing $5.5 million, as the port did last year, it is profitable again. Port director Adrian Teel slashed personnel, restyled management and rejuvenated the Maryland Port Administration. He impressed the private sector and union leaders by bringing them into the room when key decisions were made.

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.

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.

The demise of steelmaking at Sparrows Point last year landed like a body blow on eastern Baltimore County. With 2,000 jobs and a 125-year-old legacy lost in the shutdown and subsequent liquidation of assets, the cost to families, to the local economy and to the very social fabric of a close-knit community was immense. Yet, nearly one year after RG Steel filed for bankruptcy, the outlook for the 3,300-acre property is significantly brighter. The potential for redevelopment could yield as many as 10,000 jobs within 10-15 years as new businesses - particularly those related to the Port of Baltimore - take the place of steelmaking.

Christopher Lee cut his teeth on public-private partnerships 26 years ago as a Lehman Brothers executive in charge of financing projects in Asia. He put together a consortium of local investors to build a $1.8 billion, 12-mile toll road in Bangkok. Later, as chief financial officer of the second-largest infrastructure company in Mexico, Lee built toll roads. After a brief retirement in his mid-40s, Lee got back in the game with his own firm, Highstar Capital, which invests in infrastructure projects in the United States and Europe, such as energy plants, pipeline construction and waste management facilities.

Twenty-eight companies at the Port of Baltimore will be taking part in a job fair on May 18 at Canton Pier 13 as part of National Maritime Day observances. The free event will showcase the companies and careers at the public and private terminals and at the surrounding maritime industries. The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sen. Barbara Mikulski will lead a wreath laying ceremony aboard the NS Savannah at 11 a.m. The pier is at 4601 Newgate St.

The Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW Post 8185 entertained the Perry Point veterans on Sunday, April 14 at the post home at 520 Susquehanna River Road. Kathy Heaton and her crew provided a scrumptious meal followed by music provided by DJ Bob Cross. The ladies entertain the veterans on the second Sunday of every month from April through December. The new Bainbridge Museum at 6 S. Main Street (the Bank Building) will open for the season on Saturday, April 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. Fitness instructor Cindi Lamb Wiley, has two "Fun Buns" classes running, one in North East at Victoria Park senior apartments on Tuesday mornings at 11 a.m., and the other at the VFW Post 8185 in Port Deposit on Monday evenings at 6 p.m. The sessions in North East are free and the classes at Port's VFW encourage a $2 donation to the VFW each week.

Regardless of the outcome of the latest labor dispute at the Port of Baltimore, the strike called yesterday by unionized cargo clerks serves to underscore the port's image as a place where smooth operations take a back seat to bad labor-management relations. Some port observers argue that the negative view of the port portrayed in a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday is out of date, that the atmosphere has improved significantly. Try explaining that to shippers who today aren't sure whether they can get their goods unloaded, and for whom every delay is costly.

Detectives in Aberdeen received a tip they hoped would be their big break: A prisoner seeking leniency said he knew the man who abducted the mother of Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. But nearly nine months after the bizarre kidnapping, no suspect has been identified and police still don't know of a motive in the case, in which Violet R. Ripken was taken from her home by an unknown assailant and safely returned nearly 24 hours later. Michael Wayne Molitor claimed last year to know what happened and gave police a name; in return, police helped persuade a judge to grant him bail after a string of drug offenses.

District 10 VFW Ladies Auxiliary met for their quarterly dinner meeting April 2 at the VFW Post 8185, Port Deposit. Auxiliary units from Elkton, Chesapeake City, and North East joined the auxiliary unit from Post 8185 to make plans for June's convention. District President Dee Russo gave out awards from National Headquarters including a certificate to Post 8185 for participation in the President's Special Project. Election and installation of officers for 2013 followed the business meeting.