Ron Brown was unanimously elected Vice President of the Propeller Club of Northern California at the Club’s  April 2nd meeting at Scott’s Seafood, Oakland, California.

“Ron Brown has been a stalwart member of the Propeller Club of Northern California and one our leading advocates in the maritime community,” Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California President told Propeller Club attendees  in proposing Brown for Vice President at the April 2nd meeting.

Brown has been the Maritime Marketing and Commodities Manager for the Port of Oakland since 2008.

Previously, Brown held the following positions:

• President, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Port of Oakland Chapter: Jan 2005 – Dec 2019 · 15 yrs
• Sr. Adjunct Professor, DeVry University – Keller Graduate School of Management, 2003 – 2009, San Francisco Bay AreaSenior Program Manager, SAIC, Dec 1999 – Sep 2002, San Francisco Bay Area
• Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Micro Search Environmental Corporation: Oct 1993 – Dec 1999, Oakland CA

In the aftermath of the failed effort by the Oakland A’s to build a ballpark and condominiums on the Port of Oakland property, the Port of Oakland’s Executive Director Danny Wan and Maritime Director Bryan Brandes sought support for major infrastructure upgrades to port operations.

Wan noted that the Port has won $600 million in new investments: “We’ve gotten … over $600 million of investment on grants from both the federal and state levels. Those go into projects like the Seventh Street access improvements, port efficiency, data improvements, and harbor strengthening.”

On November 14th, Wan explained to an assembly of maritime stakeholders that he had requested the Propeller Club of Northern California organize a meeting with Port stakeholders to discuss future projects and improved collaboration. He asked, “We get everybody in a room … to give us some ideas about what you think needs to happen at the Port of Oakland to grow our business …I’m so very heartened by … all of you showing up today.”

SSA Voices Concerns

Ed DeNike, President, of SSA Containers, which operates the biggest terminal at the Port of Oakland (Oakland International Container Terminal or OICT) said that the Port’s support for the failed Oakland A’s ballpark and condominiums at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal created uncertainty. He said it undermined SSA’s ability to attract customers to the Port of Oakland: “We signed a long-term commitment with the Port of Oakland … We bought the biggest cranes in the world sitting at OICT handling any ship that’s going to be built now or for the next 20 years. We bought equipment … This thing that happened at Howard Terminal hurt us. We stopped getting any commitment from any carriers for not more than one year because they didn’t know what the future was in this Port. We need volumes and we need commitments. We can talk and say anything … that we want to (but) when carriers hear that the Port doesn’t care about them, I’m not saying it’s true, but that’s what they think. When the Port says that there’s going to be other uses for a marine terminal then … our customers need to know that the Port of Oakland is supporting the future of this Port then we can get long-term commitments.”

DeNike’s concern was repeated publicly and privately by other stakeholders who say they have confidence in the Port staff but do not have confidence in the City of Oakland. They say the City ignored pleas from truckers, the railroads, terminal operators, longshore labor, freight forwarders, and others that the ballpark and condominium project would be severely disruptive to Port operations.

DeNike was positive about the support SSA has received from International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 which represents longshore labor at Oakland: “We’ve worked with Local 10 for a long time. I feel Local 10 now is … the best I’ve ever seen them … I think … they realize that their future also is to get the job done. And I think the employer, not only SSA, but the other employers too, have convinced Local 10 that they have to step up to the plate.”

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The San Francisco Bar Pilots christened their new pilot boat the Golden Gate hailing it as the next generation of low emission vessel technology for the San Francisco Bay.

The Bar Pilots said that the Golden Gate, which replaces a vessel under the same name, “is a state-of-the-art pilot vessel that advances the organization’s sustainability goals and whose funding was made possible through last year’s Assembly Bill 2056 legislation authored by California Assembly Member Timothy Grayson (D-Concord).”

On October 12th, Captain David McCloy, S.F. Bar Pilots, told an audience at the christening ceremony that took place at Pier 9 in San Francisco: “I am pretty sure we’re still the first Tier 4  (low emission) compliant pilot boat in the United States right now …It was quite a big deal … to put a vessel like this in service (during the) pandemic and supply chain issues.”

According to Diesel.net: “On May 11, 2004, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) signed a final rule introducing Tier 4 emission standards, which were phased-in over the period of 2008-2015. The Tier 4 standards require that emissions of PM and NOx be further reduced by about 90%. These emission reductions have been achieved through the use of advanced exhaust gas aftertreatment (sic) technologies, with most Tier 4 engine families using urea-SCR catalysts for NOx control.”

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LR: Stas Margaronis, Evey Hwang, Susan Ransom & Ron Brown

A Proclamation on National Maritime Day, 2023

     On National Maritime Day, we honor the thousands of dedicated merchant mariners who serve on United States vessels around the world.  During times of both peace and war, merchant mariners are always there — stepping up to transport equipment, troops, and goods across the globe to make our country safer and stronger.

     With professionalism and passion, merchant mariners have forged us into the maritime Nation we are today.  During the Revolutionary War, merchant vessels joined the vastly outnumbered American fleet to help defend our independence.  During World War II, as our brave service members battled the forces of fascism, more than a quarter-million members of the Merchant Marine volunteered to transport tanks, ammunition, and troops across the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.  Many of them made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of freedom.  And today, merchant mariners not only help move hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of cargo through our 25,000 miles of waterways and more than 360 commercial ports annually — they also crew vessels of our United States Ready Reserve, shipping vital military cargo to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves against Russia’s brutal war. 

     My Administration remains steadfast in its support of the Merchant Marine as well as the Jones Act, which ensures American workers see the benefits of our domestic maritime industry.  We are also making historic investments to improve our maritime supply chains by making it easier, faster, cheaper, cleaner, and safer for ships to get in and out of our ports.  We are strengthening our support for licensed Merchant Marine Officers, including requesting $196 million in my 2024 Budget to upgrade the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s campus, expand training, and help prevent sexual assault and support survivors — because every person at the Academy deserves to feel safe and have their contributions fully valued.  We are also working to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the ranks of the Merchant Marine because our economy and national security are strongest when we draw on the full skillsets and diversity of our Nation.

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AGTC’s Friedmann says lack of ILWU-PMA contract could be “dangerous, permanent.”

Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AGTC) Executive Director Peter Friedmann has again warned that the lack of a West Coast labor contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) could be “dangerous” and “permanent.”

Friedmann provided AJOT with an update sent to AGTC members on the dangers created by the lack of an ILWU-PMA contract: “Currently, too many West Coast marine terminals are operating on reduced schedules, some are open only four days a week, creating massive disruption and trucking, storage expense for agriculture exporters. Terminals are closing because they lack sufficient volume of import containers to justify hiring the longshore labor to keep them open. So, both the terminal operators and the longshore labor are losers.”

On the trend of cargo being shifted from the West Coast ports to East Coast ports, Friedmann explained why cargo losses could be permanent:

“The uncertainty that accompanies marine terminal operations without a labor contract, creates a disincentive to invest in additional facilities through which cargo will transit West Coast gateway ports. For example, transload facilities that might have been built to serve a West Coast gateway are being built to serve cargo through East Coast gateways. The same for warehouses, cold storage facilities, etc. Once those are built, the millions of dollars spent will not be abandoned – the cargo will continue to move through those facilities for years, even decades, to come. This makes it even more challenging for the West Coast gateways to claw back lost import container market share.”

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