STEM TO STERN
The Monthly Newsletter of the
North Carolina State Ports Authority
Morehead City projects move forward
FEBRUARY
2006
Progress +
Changes
Page 2
Good Growth
Page 3
Captain’s Award
Page 5
Program Gives
Employees Good Start
Page 7
Recent weeks have seen significant progress on sev-eral
major projects at the Port of Morehead City, as break-bulk
business at the Port booms (see more on Page 3) and
preparations are made for even more.
Work is under way on a major rail rehabilitation
project throughout the Morehead City terminal and
across the Newport River to Radio Island. Bullock Con-struction
Inc. of Easton, Md., has begun work on the $3
million project, which includes upgrades in capacity, re-pair
and replacement of rail and switches, as well as re-placement
of the “frogs,” highly specialized metal connec-tors
where rail crosses another track.
Rail at Morehead City includes the tracks which al-low
cargo to leave the Port on Norfolk Southern trains, as
well as crane rail on the docks. The frogs are all on the
docks, at the places where rail and crane rail intersect.
Each frog is designed and precision-machined to match
the specific angle of an intersection.
About a third of the rail project’s cost is for those frogs,
about $1 million. The project is scheduled to take about
The 570-foot M/V Fuancheng, operated by Active Logistics of Singapore, dis-charges
6,565 tons of rubber at the Port of Morehead City Feb. 24-26.
Photo by Susan Clizbe
a year, finishing in the first quarter of 2007.
Beginning very soon is the project to rehabilitate Aren-dell
Street, from where it enters the main gate to the wa-ter’s
edge. The $3.5 million project is slated to wrap up by
the end of paving weather this fall. The project includes
not only street paving, which is sorely needed to make
access to the Port safer and more comfortable, and easier
on vehicles, but also open storage space on the docks.
Progress also continues on the Port’s two big, long-term
projects. Lease negotiations and engineering analy-sis
continue for a new 177,000-square foot warehouse to
be built by Duke Realty to accommodate the Port’s ex-panding
lumber business.
Work is also under way on the nearly $1 million de-sign
contract for the Radio Island terminal. This project
creates the basis for facilities design, and includes deter-mining
traffic flow, dredging needs, and other basic plan-ning
work.
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 2
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
by Jeff Miles
Chief Operations Officer
Over the past two years, we have seen tre-mendous
growth at both Ports. More cargo, more
traffic and more business. Our aggressive ex-pansion
plans mean more of the same.
In both Wilmington and Morehead City, lum-ber
is on an especially steep curve of increased
business. In Morehead City, construction should
begin soon on a warehouse to accommodate the
growth. In Wilmington, we have taken a look at
our organizational structure and made a few
adjustments.
Several months
ago, we commis-sioned
Paul F. Rich-ardson
Associates,
the consulting firm
helping us with our
market assessments
and early plans for
the North Carolina
International Port, to
take a look at the way the Operations Depart-ment
in Wilmington worked.
What we wanted was a fresh look from the
outside at our processes and practices, and ideas
about how we could improve both. Ed Zimny and
Pat Ragan from PFRA took that look, talking to
people throughout the organization, watching
how we do our job, and delivered their report.
Working from the ideas in the report, we came
up with several changes, some big and some
small. Pat’s observation that our operations man-agement
team was spread out all over the Port
formed the basis of our tweaks.
The biggest visible change on the organiza-tional
chart is that we realigned the maintenance
functions of the organization. Jeff Bellows and
the facilities maintenance team now report to
Bill Bennett in Engineering and Planning.
Sam Chevalier and the vehicle maintenance
team remain in Operations, now reporting to
Walter Taylor, whose responsibilities have expand-ed
to include both the Crane Department and
the vehicle maintenance team. His new title is
manager of cranes and heavy lift equipment.
Progress brings changes
Our goal is to position the Ports to
deal with simultaneous rapid
increases in container traffic
and general cargo.
FROM THE COO’S DESK
Jeff Miles
COO
Joan Bondurant has moved from
the Maritime Building to support
Walter’s team.
Perhaps just as visible to those
on the Port is that Steve Jackson
has moved to the Wilmington
Maritime Building. His title re-mains
manager of general cargo
operations, but we have also re-aligned
the staff here in my office
and he now reports directly to me.
Jerry Moore, the longest-serving and among
the hardest-working employees the Ports Author-ity
has ever had, con-tinues
to report to me
as Wilmington’s direc-tor
of port operations.
As our container
business continues to
grow, and as we
move forward with
out container termi-nal
expansion plans
to accommodate the
ever-greater volume
of container business, we need Jerry’s expertise
to be sure we continue our top-level service to
customers and maintain the efficiency of our
operations in the container yard.
There’s one new face on the team. Gene Rose
is filling the new position of manager of process
improvement. He is involved with all aspects of
operations, and his job is to provide an expert,
objective look at how we do our work. He will
evaluate and document processes, ask good
questions and look for the best answers, so we
can work better and smarter.
Rounding out the realignment, Jennifer Go-ley
has moved from the Maritime Building to the
Port. She’s working with Chuck Tipton in the
lumber office as inventory control specialist.
Our goal is to position the Ports to deal with
simultaneous rapid increase in container traffic
and general cargo. I believe these moves make
sense, and the strong capabilities of our folks at
every level in the organization mean that North
Carolina’s Ports will continue to provide even bet-ter
customer service and more opportunities for
the state’s economic development.
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 3
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
NEWS FROM THE PORTS
Even as the North Carolina State Ports Au-thority
looks to the future with plans for the North
Carolina International Port in Brunswick Coun-ty,
business keeps growing at both the Ports in
Morehead City and Wilmington.
Both container and breakbulk business has
increased over the past two years, and both con-tinue
to do so seven months into fiscal 2006.
Fiscal 2006 numbers up moving into second half
The 455-foot M/V Glory Ocean discharges bulk cement at
the Port of Wilmington in February. The product is offloaded
using the hose seen attached to a boom at the center of
the picture, which connects to a system of pipes to move it
to the 100,000-square foot Warehouse 4. D.R. Allen & Son
Inc. expanded it cement-distribution center there by more
than 50 percent last fall. D.R. Allen owns concrete plants
and a block-manufacturing facility in Fayetteville.
Photo by Susan Clizbe
At Morehead City, the regular calls begun in
mid-2005 by forest products giant Gearbulk have
increased the lumber business nearly fivefold,
with 50,173 tons through January, compared to
9,163 tons the same period last year. The natu-ral
rubber business continues to grow as well,
with a 31 percent increase to 159,365 tons after
121,520 last year.
Bulk colemanite at Morehead City grew a re-markable
61 percent in the first seven months,
from 61,689 tons to 99,505 this year.
In Wilmington, the largest growth in a single
commodity was bulk cement up 106 percent from
93,508 tons in the first seven months of fiscal
2005 to 192,513 tons so far this year.
On the breakbulk side, import lumber and
export woodpulp both marked significant gains.
This year so far, 387,401 tons of lumber has
crossed the docks, 15 percent more than last
year’s 336,337.
Woodpulp exports for the year stand at
342,773 tons, up from 324,684.
Fertilizer products have also seen a remark-able
28 percent increase on lower volumes, from
36,523 tons to 46,781 tons.
With business picking up in the container
yard as projected, overall container tonnage is
up 21 percent for the year to date, 486,409 tons
to last year’s 402,548. Container moves are up
even more, 47,869 compared to 2005’s 36,898,
or 30 percent.
On the general cargo terminal in Wilmington,
recent efforts at process improvement have paid
off with improved truck turn-times even as vol-umes
increased.
When the current tracking
system began in October, the
average time of a truck from
gate through loading back out
the gate was one hour and 47
minutes, with about 100 trucks
being loaded on an average day.
On Jan. 18, the current record
of 164 trucks was loaded, with
the turn time reduced to only
1:11
Better still, with volumes still
high on the terminal, turn time
is now down to about 1:05.
Welcome to
Morehead City
Debra Winfrey, manager of general
cargo operations at the Port of More-head
City, presents a plaque to Capt.
Han Yaode of the M/V PAC Deneb. The
587-foot vessel made its first call at the
Port Feb. 28, discharging more than
9,000 tons of natural rubber.
Photo by Amy Willis
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 4
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
BOARD REPORT
STEM TO STERN
The Monthly Newsletter
of the North Carolina State Ports Authority
FEBRUARY 2006
Stem to Stern is an electronic
newsletter published by the North
Carolina State Ports Authority. It is
available on the Ports Authority website
in Portable Document Format for online
reading or printing by the reader:
www.ncports.com
Editorial content is edited, prepared,
and provided by the Communications and
Human Resources teams of the Ports
Authority.
Tom Eagar ................. Chief Executive Officer
Karen Fox ............ Communications Director
Rick Koch .......... Human Resources Director
Susan Clizbe ........ Communications Manager
Laura Crowell ................... Human Resources
Susan Pridgen ...................... Communications
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Carl J. Stewart, Jr., Chair ............. Gastonia
J. Brynn Thomas, Vice Chair ..... New Bern
Jesse S. Capel ..................................... Troy
John Curry ................................ Charlotte
Jim Fain .......................................... Raleigh
Jeff D. Etheridge, Jr. .................Whiteville
Derryl Garner ...........................Newport
Alex MacFadyen, Jr. ..................... Raleigh
Greg Plemmons .................. Greensboro
Robert Wicker .................... Greensboro
Laura Wilson ....................... Wilmington
N.C. State Ports Authority
P.O. Box 9002
Wilmington, NC 28402
(910) 343-6482
NCports_PR@ncports.com
www.ncports.com
by Karen Fox
Communications
At its meeting in Raleigh Feb. 23, the North
Carolina State Ports Authority Board of Direc-tors
and Chairman Carl J. Stewart Jr. approved
a resolution authorizing the issue and sale of
bonds to finance the purchase of the 600-acre
site in Brunswick County for the North Carolina
International Port.
Closing the bond issue will be followed by the
closing on the property. That is now expected to
happen in early to mid-April. Board members Jeff
Etheridge and Alex MacFadyen recused them-selves
from the vote.
Bank of America, Branch Banking and Trust
Co. and SunTrust Banks Inc. are underwriters
for the bond issue, with First Citizens Bank and
Trust Co. Inc. as trustee.
Chairman Stewart and the Board also an-nounced
and endorsed the creation of the N.C.
State Ports Authority Foundation. The Founda-tion
will be a nonprofit corporation operated ex-clusively
for the benefit and support of activities
of the Ports Authority.
Chairman Stewart and Board member Bob
Wicker, with assistance from Assistant Attorney
General Dennis Myers, developed the framework
and articles of incorporation for the Foundation.
Following the adjournment of the Ports Au-thority
Board meeting, Mr. Myers executed the
articles as the incorporator. The initial members
of the Foundation's Board of Directors were
named and include the Ports Authority Board
members and its chief executive officer.
At its initial meeting, the Foundation Board
will adopt bylaws, appoint other directors who
are interested in the success of the Ports Au-thority
and the economic prosperity of North
Carolina, and elect officers.
The articles of incorporation will be filed with
Secretary of State's office and the necessary
forms will be filed for the Foundation to qualify
as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
Board approves bond issue, creates Ports Foundation
Southport Marina renovation plans unveiled
At a community meeting in Southport in February, the new
owners of Southport Marina Inc. unveiled their plans to reno-vate
the facility.
SMI holds the lease to the property owned by the Ports
Authority, and as part of recent lease renegotiations, commit-ted
to extensive repairs and upgrades to the Marina both on
the docks and on shore.
Among the improvements shared with Southport residents
are new docks and extensive dredging, improvements to the
public boat-launching ramps, on the water side.
On shore, improvements include a boardwalk, parking lay-out
changes, landscaping and a dry-stack system.
For more information about the Marina, contact SMI’s on-site
manager, George Bischoff, at (910) 457-9900 or email
smarinainc@ec.rr.com.
Information can also be found on the Southport Marina
page of the N.C. State Ports website at www.ncports.com.
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 5
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
NEWS FROM THE PORTS
Rickman receives Captain’s Award
Paul Rickman, Bulk Handling supervisor at
the Port of Morehead City, received the Captain’s
Award, the highest-level of the North Carolina
State Ports Authority’s employee recognition pro-gram,
during the first-quarter All Hands meet-ing
in Morehead City.
Paul was nominated by several employees in
the Bulk Handling Department for his dedica-tion
to customer service, high efficiency in oper-ations
and driving for results.
After Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast,
business in Bulk Handling operation increased
approximately 35 percent from an already busy
schedule.
When Hurricane Ophelia came ashore very
near the Port, the department’s offices were de-stroyed,
and the team was disconnected from
the rest of the port and world.
Paul worked late at the Port and from his
home for many hours, to make sure the Ports
Authority and its customers would not miss a
shipment in or out.
He handled these challenges without ever de-nying
one of the Bulk Handling employees any
requested time off for family, vacation or sick
leave.
Paul goes beyond
the call of duty and
frequently steps in to
serve as electrician or
equipment operator
in the department.
His ideas and
knowledge have en-hanced
operations
and maintenance
projects and resulted
in large savings for
Bulk Handling and its customers by shaving
hours of unloading time off each operation trans-fer.
After 19 years of service to the Port, Paul con-tinues
to take it upon himself to maintain an
attitude of staying efficient, motivated, well-trained,
up to date and safety-minded for his
team, and always prepared for an emergency.
The Employee Recognition Committee agreed
with Paul’s nominators that he displays the char-acter
of a strong leader, and also demonstrates
daily efforts and accomplishments of great value
to the Ports, our employees, our customers and
others in our community.
Paul Rickman, center, is congratulated by (from left) Ports Authority Chief Operations Officer Jeff Miles, Bill Chadwick
from Bulk Handling, Morehead City Director of Operations Rex Edwards and Human Resources Director Rick Koch.
Photo by Amy Willis
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 6
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
INSIDE FINANCE
By Janet Rall
NC State Ports Authority Financial Analyst
It's that time of year already at the North
Carolina State Ports Authority: time to prepare
our operating budget for fiscal year 2007.
Developing a budget is important because it
helps plan and prioritize future expenditures. At
the Ports Authority, we develop our budget us-ing
a zero-based methodology, which means all
planned expenditures have to be itemized and
justified.
Zero-based budgeting provides complete visi-bility
of how each department plans to spend
each dollar allocated to them, and helps contain
unnecessary costs. It also ensures our revenues
will be spent efficiently to maximize the benefits
we can provide to our customers, taxpayers, and
employees.
Expenses are broken down into different ac-counts,
or expense categories, when they are
submitted to finance. Cost-center managers, oth-erwise
usually known as department heads, must
itemize and justify all expense requests in the
categories that are relevant to perform the de-partment's
function.
Some expense categories are common across
most cost centers, such as salaries, communi-cations
and vehicle operations. When submit-ting
a budget request for vehicle operations, each
department itemizes expected costs for each ve-hicle
assigned, and justifies the request based
on vehicle operating costs, such as the number
of vehicles, lease rates and expected mainte-nance.
Other expense categories only apply to a few
cost centers, since some functions are only per-formed
by specific cost centers. For example, only
the Communications Department itemizes and
justifies advertising expenses in their budget re-quest.
Only Maintenance submits expenses for
dredging.
For the cost center-managers who prepare
budgets for their departments annually, we will
Q: What comes before spring?
A: Budget time at the Ports! continue to use the same secure database appli-cation
as last year. We will also continue to use
the same process for submitting budgets. We
expect that the system will remain successful as
it was last year, since everyone did a wonderful
job itemizing and justifying anticipated expenses
for their department.
The only significant change from last year is
that budget database will be locked on the date
budget requests are due to the finance depart-ment.
Any additions or changes to be made after
that will be subject to the approval of the de-partment
head, and their inclusion in the final
budget request will be at the discretion of our
Chief Financial and Information Officer, Jeff
Strader, and our CEO, Tom Eagar.
Once the Finance Department receives each
department's budget request, the requests, along
with some supplemental financial information,
will be compiled into a single initial budget for
the entire Ports Authority. Some of the addition-al
information included covers revenue, inter-est,
and insurance expense projections.
The CFIO, CEO and other senior managers
review the initial budget, and adjustments are
made where necessary.
Once the CEO and CFIO approve the budget,
a final copy of the request is compiled and the
requested budget is sent to the Ports Authority's
Board of Directors.
At the next board meeting, the CFIO presents
the requested budget to the Board, and final ad-justments
are made at the Board's direction.
Once the budget gains the Board's approval, it
becomes the official operating budget for fiscal
year 2007.
IMPORTANT DATES:
n Budget Requests Due to Finance: March 14
n Initial Request to CEO: April 7
n Final Request to CEO: May 1
n Presentation to the Board of Directors: May 24
(tentative)
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 7
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
HUMAN RESOURCES NEWS
Ports orientation program gears up
by Chris Newton
Organizational Development Specialist
As the Ports Authority continues to grow at a
rapid pace, adding additional staff to keep up,
we also need to have them up to speed and con-tributing
quicker than ever before.
With this in mind, the Human Resources team
sought input from recently hired employees and
others to develop a new Employee Orientation
Program.
The goal of the program is to engage employ-ees
by welcoming, informing, motivating and ed-ucating
them as soon as they join the Ports team.
We want new employees to be excited, and to
know they made the right decision to join the
Ports Authority and be your teammate.
Garey Graham, left, shakes hands with Gene Rose dur-ing
a tour of the Maritime Building with his sponsor, Rick
Tharrington. Mr. Graham is a new employee in Materials
Management and Mr. Rose is new to Operations. Mr.
Tharrington is among the first sponsors named as part of
a new orientation program to help new employees make
an easier transition to work with the Ports.
Photo by Susan Clizbe
Proper orientation gives them acceptance and
recognition, an understanding of benefits, pro-cedures
and expectations, and we hope it also
sows the seeds of loyalty to the organization and
its philosophies. It provides a foundation for in-creased
productivity and high morale, as well as
lowered absenteeism and turnover rates.
The orientation program involves Human Re-sources,
Payroll, supervisors, and team mem-bers.
One of the keys is a group of carefully cho-sen
and trained coworkers who serve as "Spon-sors"
for new employees - the "go-to" people who
can answer many of their day-to-day questions.
To make sure each new employee is welcomed
to the Ports Authority properly, and receives the
needed information and orientation, checklists
of needed actions have been put together for the
pre-hire period, the employee's first day, and two
weeks, 30 days and 90 days into their employ-ment.
The program features a "Welcome to the Team"
video with CEO Tom Eagar, a "Meet and Greet"
luncheon with the Senior Management Team,
and an Employee Benefits Handbook.
Each of us can play a part in the develop-ment
of new team members. Let's take the op-portunity
to make the most of it!
For information, call 910-343-6474 or email
chris_newton@ncports.com.
Sponsors welcome newcomers,
offer info and a good start
The Piedmont Triad Transportation Associa-tion
will hold its annual dinner meeting at 6 p.m.
March 15 at Volvo Trucks North America in
Greensboro.
The guest speaker is James Staley, president
and CEO of YRC Regional Transportation.
The cost is $30 per person or a table for eight
for $240. Deadline for reservations is noon March
10.
For reservations or information, contact Roy
Johnson, the association’s treasurer and web-master,
at RoyJohnson@triad.rr.com or call him
at (336) 449-3206.
PTTA sets annual meeting
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 8
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
Workplace fatalities drop statewide
RALEIGH - According to the N.C. Depart-ment
of Labor, 80 workers in North Carolina died
in workplace incidents in 2005, three fewer than
the previous year.
“We’re encouraged by the improvement we’ve
seen in workplace safety in our state,” said La-bor
Commissioner Cherie Berry. “We’ve worked
extremely hard to bring a new level of safety for
the people of this state, and this reduction is a
good, good sign.”
Commissioner Berry credited employers and
employee groups for implementing safety pro-grams
that have reduced work hazards.
The labor department in recent years has
emphasized increased safety training for work-ers
and free consultative services in work safety
for employers. One initiative has been free con-struction
safety forums conducted throughout
the state.
The number of construction deaths dropped
from 37 in 2004 to 27 in 2005, but construc-tion
was still the leading industry with 34 per-cent
of the fatalities. Manufacturing was sec-ond
with 22 fatalities, followed by agriculture,
forestry and fishing with 13.
Struck-by fatalities accounted for 25
deaths. Falls were the second-leading cause
of death with 20.
“We are encouraged by the improvement
but know that even one death is one too many,”
said Allen McNeely, director of the Occupa-tional
Safety and Health Division. “The latest
numbers show that our safety programs are
catching on. We just need to do more to spread
the word farther, and we will.”
The Labor Department compiles the report
based on workplace fatalities investigated by
the agency’s Occupational Safety and Health
Division.
SAFETY CORNER
Tharrington recognized for support during hurricanes
Rick Tharrington, security technology special-ist
in the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s
Safety and Security department, is one of 25 peo-ple
who received a Certificate of Appreciation from
the Military Affiliate Radio System for his out-standing
support and contribution to the Army
MARS Communications Program during Hurri-canes
Katrina and Rita.
During both hurricanes, he provided hourly
as well as daily updates to federal agencies in
support of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Relief
and Supply efforts.
The Military Affiliate Radio System is a De-partment
of Defense program which allows li-censed
amateur radio operators to help their
country by providing auxiliary or emergency com-munications
locally, nationally and internation-ally
when normal communications may be im-possible.
Mr. Tharrington’s
main responsibilities
with the Ports Author-ity
are to support and
maintain port securi-ty
technologies, in-cluding
surveillance
cameras, surveillance
interface platforms
and the terminals
used by Ports Police
and security officers
to monitor the systems. He also provides weath-er
monitoring and severe weather alerts for all
Ports facilities and employees.
He also maintains wireless security equip-ment,
including the ports’ local two-way radio
platforms and a new interoperability system
which allows the Ports to seamlessly interface
with state and federal communications systems.
As part of his duties, he must maintain up-to-
date certifications in the Federal Emergency
Management Agency’s Incident Command Sys-tem
training program.
by Susan Pridgen
Communications
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 9
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
NEWS FROM THE PORTS
Ports participate in recycling programs
by Susan Pridgen
Communications
Recycling provides a way to keep trash out of
landfills and to reclaim components which can
be used again in new products. It’s an important
part of environmental improvement efforts, and
the Ports Authority participates in recycling pro-grams
which double the positive impact.
Both Ports have programs to recycle used ink-jet
and laser cartridges and also benefit the Cape
Fear River Watch and Morehead City Chamber
of Commerce. Recycling has become much easi-er
today, and we’re glad to not only keep the
used cartridges out of landfills, but to help the
environment and make a difference in the com-munity
by donating them.
In Wilmington, the program has been operat-ing
for more than five years. The used cartridges
are donated to the Cape Fear River Watch, which
earns points to redeem for office equipment
through the Educational Technology and Con-servation
Exchange Program.
“The Ports Authority continues to be the key
contributor to our laser and inkjet recycling pro-gram.
With their help, we were able to turn their
donations into cash used to purchase a much-needed
projector for our organization,” said
Brooke Barney, program coordinator with the
River Watch. “The projector is used in presenta-tions
aimed at educating the public on environ-mental
issues. As always, the Cape Fear River
Watch would like to thank the Ports Authority
for their support for our organization.”
In Morehead City, the Chamber of Commerce
collects used cartridges from businesses
throughout the community to redeem through a
similar program with Recycle Rewards in San-ford.
The Port of Morehead City joined the effort
last year, coordinated by Lu Russell in Inventory
Control. Proceeds received by the Chamber will
be used to promote the Chamber’s environmen-tal
stewardship initiatives.
In Wilmington, used cartridges are collected
in the Maritime Building.
For information about these programs, con-tact
Susan Pridgen at (910) 343-6492 or email
susan_pridgen@ncports.com.
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 10
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
PORTS PEOPLE
Rose joins Operations to oversee process improvement
Promotions
Jason Smith has been pro-moted
to business
development analyst at the
Port of Wilmington. Mr. Smith
joined the Ports Authority in
July 2004 as a billing clerk in
the Finance Department.
Kim Newton has been pro-moted
to cargo control
coordinator in the Cargo
Control Center at the Port of
Wilmington. Ms. Newton has
been with the Ports Authority
since April 1985 and has
worked in the billing and
container departments.
Robert Lewis has been pro-moted
to cargo specialist at
the Port of Morehead City ef-fective
Feb. 1. Mr. Lewis has
served in the Cargo Han-dling
Department since
December 1996.
David Leggett has been
promoted to construction
inspector in the Engineering
Department. Mr. Leggett has
been with the Ports Authority
since October 2003 in Plant
Maintenance.
Gene Rose has joined the North Carolina State
Ports Authority’s Operations Department as
manager of process improvement.
In this newly created position, he will work
with all aspects of the operations team, focusing
at first on the lumber operations at the Port of
Wilmington.
“We have seen such huge growth in our lum-ber
business at both ports that it’s a key goal to
work on right now,” said Jeff Miles, the Ports
Authority’s chief operations officer.
“Gene will bring a fresh set of eyes, and be-cause
he is intentionally not in the middle of the
process already, he can step back, take an ob-jective
look, ask good questions, and develop good
answers to them.”
Mr. Rose comes to the Authority after his re-cent
retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps’s II
Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.
He retired as a chief warrant officer 5, and
served his entire career as an embarkation of-ficer
and combat cargo officer.
During assignments in Oki-nawa
and Sasebo, Japan,
Yuma, Ariz., and on board the
USS Belleau Wood and the USS
Tripoli, Mr. Rose was responsi-ble
for planning and executing
the movement of American and
allied military troops and equip-ment
by aircraft, rail, ship, bus
and truck, across the country
and around the world.
He served during both Desert
Storm and Iraqi Freedom oper-ations,
spending several tours in
the Persian Gulf area.
Mr. Rose is a graduate of the University of
Maryland, with an associate’s degree in Japa-nese
studies and a bachelor’s degree in Asian
studies. He is fluent in Japanese.
He and his wife, Yukiko, live in Wilmington.
Gene Rose
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 11
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
PORTS PEOPLE
Service Awards
March
Morehead City
Donald Cordova - Cranes 10 years
Worth Mason - Security 10 years
Wilmington
Glenn Redding - Police 5 years
Jim Herron - General Cargo 10 years
Birthdays
March
Charlotte Inland Terminal
Mar. 7 Nancy Driggers
Greensboro Inland Terminal
Mar. 18 Brenda Barger
Morehead City
Mar. 1 Ethan Hazard - Police
Mar. 17 Judy Galyon - Cargo Handling
Mar. 18 Durwood Garner - Plant Maintenance
Mar. 19 Larry Davis - Cargo Handling
Mar. 20 Shane Nelson - Plant Maintenance
Mar. 24 Bill Chadwick – Bulk Handling
Wilmington
Mar. 2 Mark Litjes - Police
Mar. 4 Elijah Walker - Containers
Mar. 12 Herb Robbins - Cranes
Mar. 12 Carey Gibson - IT
Mar. 14 Ricky Tharrington - Safety
Mar. 16 Amy Clemmons - Containers
Mar. 17 Herb Hines - Cargo Handling
Mar. 18 Doug Whitley - Plant Maintenance
Mar. 18 Richard Meeks - Plant Maintenance
Mar. 20 Jeff Flack - Plant Maintenance
Mar. 21 Wilson Grady - Cargo Handling
Mar. 23 Terry Braxton - Cargo Handling
Mar. 23 Sammy Newkirk - Containers
Mar. 25 Charles Horney - Security
Mar. 26 Charles Nixon - Cargo Handling
Mar. 29 Eric Dawson- Cargo Handling
Corporate
Mar. 7 John Lenfestey - Engineering
Mar. 10 Laura Courtney - Finance
Mar. 24 Donna Wilson - IT
Mar. 27 Rick Koch - Human Resources
Mar. 28 Terry Dail - Finance
Mar. 31 Tom Eagar - Executive
Morehead City’s 1st Quarter 2006
Birthday Luncheon
will be held at noon March 7
Maritime Building Conference Room
RSVP to Amanda Bryant at 252-808-4245
New Team Members
Gregg Galliher
Purchasing
Garey Graham
Purchasing
Carlton Davis, a foreman
in the cargo handling depart-ment
at the Port of More-head
City, was recognized for
academic achievement by
Carteret Community College
during the college’s ninth an-nual
Black History Month
program.
Mr. Davis has been with the Ports Authority
for 13 years, and has been a foreman since 2001.
He is studying business administration at Car-teret
Community College.
Carlton Davis
Davis recognized by
Carteret Community
College for academics
FEBRUARY 2006 PAGE 12
www.ncports.com
STEM TO STERN
PORTS PROMOTION
#1 in a series
The North Carolina State Ports Authority has begun a new advertising campaign focusing on the advantages of
North Carolina’s Ports and the contributions the Ports make to the economic development and success of the entire
State. Since not everyone sees the trade and regional publications where they run, we will share one in each issue of
the STEM TO STERN.