Ports America Hires VP for Sales and Marketing
Ports America announced that Paul Birnbaum has joined Ports America Stevedoring as vice president-sales and marketing. Reporting to Ports America Stevedoring President Tom Perdue, Birnbaum responsibilities include coordinating and driving corporate revenue and growth as well as structuring pricing and yield management processes. Prior to joining Ports America, Birnbaum led the strategic accounts team at Yusen Logistics, a global services provider within the third party logistics industry. Birnbaum also has leadership and industry experience that includes regional vice president sales and vice president intermodal at NYK Logistics (Americas), and operating management positions at Maersk and Conrail. portsamerica.com
Ingram and Crounse: Towing History into the Present
If towboats and barges hurtled passed the average American on their way to work every morning, the industry would be better known. If commuters had to deal with failed locks the way they have to deal with congested freeways, political support for the river industry’s infrastructure would be easier to come by. Instead, towing vessels and their crews go about their work in relative obscurity. The general public sees towboats and barges as historic relics from Sam Clemens’ time and less so an integral part of the modern American economy.
Tidewater Elects President
Tidewater Barge Lines, headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., has appointed Stephen A. Frasher as president and COO. Frasher, who holds an MBA from New York University, has 27 years of experience in the transportation industry, including time with Burlington Northern and Conrail.
U.S. Shipbuilding Industry: A Bright Future Tempered with Challenges
Not since the heady days of the late 1970s has the outlook for shipbuilding in U.S. yards looked brighter, but that outlook is tempered somewhat by the threat of federal budget cuts that could jeopardize many present and future shipbuilding projects. The U.S.'s decision to unilaterally eliminate construction differential subsidies and end tax credits for vessel construction in the early 1980s resulted in 15 years of stagnation, retrenchment and consolidation for the domestic shipbuilding industry. Today the domestic shipyard industrial base in terms of employment, active facilities and building berths/dry docks is approximately half as large as it was in 1981.
