Port

A weekend strike by dockworkers from Maine to Texas was averted Friday after union and management negotiators settled a major sticking point and extended the contract deadline until Feb. 6 to hammer out the rest of a long-term deal. The announcement came from federal mediator George Cohen, who entered talks between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance in the fall. "While some significant issues remain in contention, I am cautiously optimistic that they can be resolved," he said.

Retail giants, shipping companies and federal agencies are racing the clock to make plans as an East Coast and Gulf dock strike this weekend appears imminent. The International Longshoremen's Association, representing nearly 15,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas, and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping companies and port operators, are scheduled to meet with a federal mediator Saturday afternoon in a last-ditch effort to head off a crippling work stoppage. In Baltimore, about 1,200 workers are represented by the union.

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.

Four more days remain until St. Nicholas arrives. By this time next week, there will be nothing left but leftovers. Last weekend in church, our minister blessed the straw in the manger. The story goes that if a husband/father takes a piece of straw and keeps it in his wallet or pocket, his family will never go hungry. May that be my wish for you and yours. The Ladies Auxiliary units from Singerly, North East, Rising Sun, Chesapeake City, Perryville and Water Witch fire companies gathered at North East Fire Hall for their quarterly dinner meeting.

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.

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.

With the first three quarters of 2012 in the ledger, the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore appears poised to top several of last year's cargo records. Officials said that through the first nine months, the port's public and private terminals processed 30 million tons of general and bulk cargo volume, up 6 percent over the same period last year. The increase was led by autos, containerized goods, forest products and farm and construction equipment, which taken together amounted to 7.21 million tons, a 10 percent increase.

Infrastructure could be the least sexy word in the English language, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell acknowledged to his audience Monday morning, but "it is essential to everything we do. " While roads, rails and the electric grid — just to name a few — made the United States the greatest economic power in the world, those systems are no longer robust, Rendell said. Paltry amounts of money have been targeted for improvements to shipping channels and rail lines. Massive water main breaks have become a common occurrence as maintenance backlogs grow.

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.

With each passing week, the Port of Baltimore, the region and the entire state of Maryland edge closer to an opportunity that will give our market a major advantage in the competition for jobs and economic development. The expansion of the Panama Canal, scheduled to be completed sometime in late 2014 or early 2015, will enable massive new cargo container ships to connect Asian markets to the East Coast of the United States. The Port of Baltimore is poised to be one of only two ports on the East Coast prepared to accommodate these new ships when the expanded canal opens.