Oakland Port Director Steps Down

Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin, who had been under investigation for his role in the spending of thousands of dollars in public money at a Texas strip club, has stepped down.

Benjamin, who had served as executive director since 2007, notified the port’s Board of Port Commissioners over Veteran’s Day weekend that he’s retiring from his position effective immediately.

With his retirement, Acting Executive Director Deborah Ale Flint will continue, for now, to direct the port’s key business plans and growth initiatives while also overseeing the port’s day-to-day operations, according to the commission.

Benjamin had been on paid leave since Oct. 18 as part of an investigation into the spending of $4,500 in public money during the entertaining of shipping executives at strip club in Houston, Texas called Treasures during a 2008 business conference.

Port expense records show that Benjamin was part of the group that ran up the tab. The expense report, which was passed off as a normal business meeting, was submitted in October 2008 by the port’s maritime director, James Kwon. Kwon was placed on paid administrative leave the day after Benjamin last month by Ale Flint and currently remains on leave.

The port hired the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP last month to audit port records for other expenditures, including other nightclub visits in Asia and Oakland that were billed by employees to the port. The investigation is still ongoing, according to the port.

Additional developments regarding policies and oversight are scheduled to be discussed during the port board’s next regular business meeting, scheduled for Thurs., Nov. 15.

Anchorage Port Design Seriously Flawed, Engineers Say

Three of four new sections built at the Port of Anchorage were not constructed correctly, and due to shifting land, could fail during an earthquake, a federally commissioned study has found.

The danger comes mainly from a foundation system called Open Cell Sheet Pile, or OCSP, where instead of building a traditional dock on piling, interlocking sheets of steel are hammered into the sea floor to form U-shaped cells, which are then backfilled with dirt and gravel.

“The suitability study determined that the OCSP system is not adequately designed to meet global stability and seismic displacements based on the design criteria,” the report states. “The study also concludes that the open cell system is adequately designed to meet initial internal stability structural design requirements, assuming it was constructed without defects. However, at the end of 50 years, it will be slightly over‐stressed due to corrosion and will not meet safety standards.”

The $2.2 million sustainability study was conducted by engineering firm CH2M Hill on behalf of the US Maritime Administration and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps requested the study be conducted after it assumed control of the Port of Anchorage expansion project from MARAD on May 31.

The expansion, which has been in the works for more than a decade, was originally estimated to cost $360 million, and was supposed to be complete by 2011. Instead, cost estimates have jumped to more than $1 billion and continue to climb. A completion date is at least a decade away, according to port estimates.

Port of Bellingham Gets New Exec. Director

Port of Bellingham Chief Financial Officer Rob Fix has been selected by the Bellingham’s three-member Board of Commissioners to become the port’s new executive director. Fix had been serving in the role on an interim basis since April.

“Given his experience, local knowledge and the great strides he has made in the last few months, particularly on waterfront negotiations, we recognized that he was the best person to serve as the next executive director,” Commission President Scott Walker said in explaining the decision.

Fix has been with the port since 2008, serving as both chief financial officer and deputy director. During the past year, Fix also managed the port’s real estate division.

Fix assumed executive director’s role effective Nov. 9. His compensation package includes a $140,000-a-year salary, a $600-a-month car allowance, 10 percent-a-year deferred compensation and a four-month separation agreement.

Prior to joining the port, he was a partner and chief financial officer for hotel management company MTM Luxury Lodging and subsidiary FST Asset Management. He is a graduate of Washington State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in hotel and restaurant administration.

Fix takes the place of former executive director Charlie Sheldon, who resigned under pressure April 3 after about a year-and-a-half on the job. Sheldon had clashed with Walker, who was upset that Sheldon had authorized the port’s aviation director to take a trip to a conference in the Caribbean in 2011 without informing the board first.

APM Breaks Ground on $900 Million Mexico Terminal

Senior executives from APM Terminals, along with various elected and appointed Mexico officials, held a groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 9 for the new $900 million Lázaro Cárdenas Terminal 2 (TEC2) deep-water terminal at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas.

Mexican Federal Secretary of Communications and Transportation Dionisio Perez-Jacome Friscione and Fausto Vallejo, the governor of the Mexican State of Michoacan de Ocampo, were among those on hand to formally lay the foundation stone for the Pacific Coast terminal, which would be located at Mexico’s second-busiest container port.

“The new terminal at Lázaro Cárdenas will create tremendous opportunities for the growth of international trade and new jobs for Michoacan de Ocampo and for all of Mexico,” Jorgen Nielsen, the general director of APM Terminals’ Lázaro Cárdenas operations said.

The TEC2 facility will be developed in three stages. The first, which would have an annual throughput capacity of 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent units, is expected to begin operations by the first quarter of 2015.

At full build-out, TEC2 is expected to provide shipping companies with 1,485 meters of berth, 16 ship-to-shore cranes capable of handling ultra-large container ships of 15,000 TEU capacity and above, and an annual throughput capacity of 4.1 million TEUs.

“We are very proud to be a part of Mexico’s growth, and look forward to creating a new world-class port facility which will reduce logistics costs and improve Mexico’s global competitiveness,” APM Terminals Vice President for Business Implementation, Tiemen Meester, who participated in the ceremony, said.

LA Harbor Board Approves Major Construction Contracts

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved more than $127 million in construction contracts for two major projects that would modernize the marine container terminal operated by longtime tenant TraPac, Inc.

“Redevelopment of the TraPac terminal reflects the port’s larger commitment to retaining its global position as America’s premier seaport,” Port of LA Executive Director Geraldine Knatz said. “It also reflects our commitment to job creation and sustainable growth as the pathway to long-term prosperity.”

The projects are key elements of the Port of Los Angeles’ overall capital improvement program, which has the port investing more than $1.2 billion over five years. Both contracts, which were approved Nov. 1, were awarded to California construction firms and are expected to support nearly 1,000 one-year equivalent construction jobs over the next two and half years in the greater Los Angeles five-county region. Work is due to begin in January.

The first contract, a $71.5 million project for new buildings and state-of-the-art truck entrance and exit gates at TraPac’s rear Berths 136-139, was awarded to Costa Mesa, California-based S.J. Amoroso Construction Co. The work includes a new administration building designed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard, a new yard operations building, truck scales and a pedestrian bridge.

The facilities project, which also includes backland and other infrastructure improvements at Berths 145-147, is expected to be completed in the summer of 2015. The second contract is a $55.7 million grade separation project awarded to Sacramento area-based MCM Construction. The South Wilmington Grade Separation involves building an elevated 4,100-foot roadway that links Harry Bridges Boulevard, Pier A Street and Fries Avenue to TraPac’s new entrance and separates truck from rail operations for safer and more efficient flow of traffic.

The work is due to be completed in the spring of 2015.

Both projects are part of a $365 million expansion of the TraPac terminal due to be completed in 2016. In 2009, the port, TraPac and its parent company, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), signed a 30-year lease that paved the way for the modernization project, which is expected to increase terminal productivity, green operations and generate thousands of jobs throughout Southern California.