CONECT’s Northeast Cargo Symposium held on November 4th at the Renaissance Hotel in South Boston featured Dan Baldwin, USCBP Office of International Trade, as the luncheon speaker. The ocean shipping panel (see panel photos) was among the most engaging of the year. The panel included NITL’s (National Industrial Transportation League) Peter Gatti, Brian Conrad of the TSA, Rebecca Dye, a commissioner with the FMC (Federal Maritime Commission); and Jon Gold of the NRF (National Retail Federation) discussing, among other topics, ocean carrier anti-trust immunity.

On Friday, September 17th A.N. Deringer continued their yearly tradition of hosting clients/colleagues on a tour of the Port of Montreal. The day began with an in-depth look at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s facility in High Gate, VT. From there, the group was brought over the border to the Port of Montreal and was given access to a Hapag-Lloyd container ship at Montreal Gateway Terminals. The day ended with a tour of GT Group’s Container Depot and a wonderful dinner in Old Montreal. Thanks to A.N. Deringer for the opportunity to experience the movement of international freight first hand!

Over 400 people turned out for the 10th Annual Port of New York-New Jersey Port Industry Day, on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at Global Container Terminal, in Bayonne, NJ. The event’s conference program tackled the theme “Positioning the Port for Future Growth.” In addition to the conference and numerous exhibits, Global Container Terminal staff conducted guided bus tours of the facility.

On October 12-14, UBM hosted its annual Break Bulk Americas conference in Houston, Texas. On Wednesday evening, Rickmers Line with co-host Intermarine hosted a reception for their customers at the House of Blues.

The Port of Baltimore’s Propeller Club hosted its Annual Crab Feast at Conrad Ruth’s villa on Thursday, August 12th. It remains one of North America’s premier transportation outings and networking events.

The Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) celebrated its 20th Anniversary at its Annual Meeting in June held at Granite Links Golf Club in Quincy, MA. CONECT’s keynote speaker was Alan Bersin, newly appointed Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, who arrived early to meet the many trade and transportation professionals in attendance.  Guests gave Mr. Bersin’s speech about CBP’s trade facilitation efforts very high marks, especially for an individual so new to the office of Commissioner. (Photos by Andrew Held)

- By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOT
A day after Congress approved health care reform and tens of thousands of immigrants and supporters of immigration reform descended on the nation’s capital, hundreds of port industry leaders were drawn to Washington for the American Association of Port Authorities’ annual spring conference, including a reception hosted by the Port of Halifax...

CONECT’s 14th Annual Trade & Transportation Conference took place at the Hyatt Regency in Newport, RI.  The annual gala dinner was hosted at the famed Newport mansion, Ochre Court. Over 240 guests attended the recent three day event which featured expert speakers on import/export regulations, transportation & logistics issues, sustainability and sourcing.  For details, go to www.conect.org.

The 21st Annual Tampa Steel Conference was held February 11th and 12th at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Despite the economic downturn and the snowstorm in the northeast U.S., attendance still exceeded 200 and it was another excellent event. The Tampa Steel Conference has developed into one of the steel industry’s major trade forums over the past two decades, attracting the key decision makers from throughout North America.

On January 27th the New York/New Jersey Foreign Freight Forwarders and Brokers Association Inc. hosted its annual dinner at the Marriot Marquis in New York City. With over 800 attendees, the event honored Richard M. Larrabee as the 2010 Person of the Year. Richard M. Larrabee is the Director of the Port Commerce Department of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He oversees the management and operation of the major marine terminal facilities within the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest port on the East Coast of North America, which handled 88 million tons of cargo in 2008, and approximately 5.3 million teu’s (twenty-foot equivalent units).

(Photos from the event were taken by Clark Jones Photography)

The 42nd annual Georgia Foreign Trade conference was held at The Cloister on Sea Island, Georgia from Jan 31- February 3, 2010. The conference featured a change at the helm for the Georgia Ports Authority. Doug Marchand, outgoing Executive Director of the GPA was lauded for his efforts over his tenure in increasing vessel calls, port tenancy and overall tonnage at the Ports of Savannah and Brunswick. Incoming Executive Director Curtis Foltz brings over a decade of port management experience and will lead the GPA into the future. Over four hundred attendees enjoyed several excellent panels on the state of containerized and RORO shipping with accessible container capacity the predominant theme of the business forums. The conference also featured a two day golf tournament at the Sea Island courses which will feature a PGA event this fall.

- By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOT

Drawing more than 150 leaders in maritime transportation and related fields, the third annual Shifting International Trade Routes Workshop, co-sponsored by the American Association of Port Authorities and U.S. Maritime Administration, was hosted Jan. 26-27 by the Tampa Port Authority.

In addition to a day and a half of business sessions (see report on page 6 of this edition of AJOT), the Tampa Port Authority hosted a Jan. 26 evening reception at which workshop participants engaged in informal interactions at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.
Photos by Paul Scott Abbott, AJOT

The commercial guts of the weeklong conference are the “one-on-one scheduler” that enables delegates to pre-arrange one-on-one meetings for 30 minutes with other delegates. The WCA booked approximately 50,000 meetings or around 10,000 per day for the designated five sessions. The one-on-ones are work. It is as one delegate expressed, “a bit of an endurance contest,” but the rewards are very real. Part of the reason that the attendance was so strong at the WCA meetings is the invaluable building of strong personal relations that enhance the commercial ties. Simply knowing that person on the other end of the phone or e-mail is, as the expression goes, “priceless” when working the complex environment of freight forwarding. In a down market reliable contacts are often the difference between profit and loss.

The event also marked the unveiling of several new initiatives. Perhaps the key announcement was the joint development with Kale Consultants Limited of a new software platform which will enable member freight companies to communicate with other members and translate data regardless of which existing system they use.

Another interesting presentation was made by the Pleasanton, California-based DW Morgan. DW Morgan basically took their in-house TMS (transportation management system) named “Chainlinq” and adopted it to Apple’s iPhone. The new app, named ChainLinq Mobile allowed DW Morgan visibility through the entire supply chain. It also enabled employees to use the iPhone in novel ways, such as photographing cargo at pickup (to document issues with freight) and road conditions that could impact delivery times. The application is now available to WCA members. Overall, the private meetings and other functions such as cocktail parties, dinners, golf and tours rounded out a busy week for the 1400 delegates during their stay in Bangkok.