Ports America, the largest independent terminal and stevedoring group in the US, has very big plans, as the August call of the 8,400 teu MSC Sindy at the company’s Seagirt Terminal in the Port of Baltimore so visibly attests. But there are a lot of moving parts in a company handling more than 80 terminals, nearly 13 million teus, over 4 million vehicles and nearly 9 million tons of general cargo… not to mention cruise passengers.By George Lauriat, AJOTOn August 1st, Mediterranean Shipping Company’s containership, the MSC Sindy, called at the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal. The significance of the call was not the 900 containers discharged or the 500 loaded, but that the 1,106 foot long containership, with a draft of over 38 feet, was the largest boxship worked in the Port (MSC earlier had a sister ship test the practicality of the call, but the ship was not worked,) and a tangible example of things to come; and addressing that big future is an everyday part of business for Ports America. For Michael Hassing, Ports America President & CEO of the Iselin, N.J.-based marine terminal operator, the MSC Sindy call at the Seagirt facility was a very large and noteworthy footnote for a work in progress. The work Hassing has undertaken involves building the “Ports America” brand from the inside out, and the development of Seagirt Terminal is just one (albeit significant) element of the ongoing process. In March of 2010, Highstar Capital, the parent company of Ports America, named Hassing President & CEO. At the time, many observers expected an in-house appointment and were mildly surprised that Highstar gave the nod to an outsider like Hassing. But the terminal operator was in the midst of an elaborate makeover, and Highstar was looking for an executive to oversee the processes both internally and externally- a task for which Hassing was ably qualified. Hassing came from Scandlines GmbH, one of Europe’s largest ferry operators, where he was CEO. He’d also been CEO of the Iceland-based Samskip Group and spent twenty-five years with A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in various positions around the world. Hassing at the Helm What Hassing brought to the table was an intangible, someone the British would dub as an ‘all-rounder.’ His experience in many phases of both the shipping and terminal business gives him an unusual perspective on how to build a management team and to execute a strategy to make the diverse terminal operator a “stand alone structure,” as Hassing said in an interview with the AJOT. It wasn’t all that long ago when marine terminal companies were hot commodities for investors, and when Hassing came aboard there was a suggestion his job was to get the organization IPO (initial public offering) ready. When asked, Hassing explained that it is not about getting a company (really any company, not necessarily Ports America) IPO ready as bond ready. The purpose is to reshape the company so it is investment worthy. According to Hassing, the process involved reducing the “layers of management” and making “unified the brand [Ports America] for the customer.” The company had “seven legacy” companies that provided an extremely wide range of port related services. In a sense the rapid expansion of Ports America from the former P&O Ports, US-division (sold under Congressional pressure by Dubai-based DP World to AIG Global) to the present entity included numerous additions, including the 2007 acquisition of another large West Coast terminal operator MTC (Metropolitan Terminal Company) [purchase by Highstar]. (See Milestones on page 3.) He explained that the new management team went “back to basics to assess the merger” and subsequently simplified the organizational structure. This resulted in a “decentralized” head office in Iselin, NJ. The integration of the various divisions basically divided the company into container operations (joint ventures included) and everything else, whether under hook or autos. The goal of the strategy was to create a terminal