Baltimore boss in shock resignation
Port of Baltimore executive director James Whites decision to step down as the head of the Maryland Port Commission came as a shock to the maritime community, reports the Baltimore Business Journal. White was instrumental in launching strategic initiatives to boost the ports cargo traffic. I think its a tremendous step back, Thomas T. Koch, a former member of the Commission, said of Whites resignation.
White brought much needed stability to a job that had seen seven administrators in eight years. He was respected throughout Maryland’s shipping industry and was considered instrumental in positioning the Port of Baltimore to become a leader in handling automobiles and other ro-ro cargoes.
Longtime port consultant Helen Delich Bentley will lead a search committee appointed by Transportation Secretary Robert Flanagan to find a new executive director. Bentley is seen as a trailblazing legend in the maritime world. In a statement Bentley called White “the best executive director the Port of Baltimore has ever had.”
The furore burst into the open following the publication of a letter from a vice-president of Mediterranean Shipping, Baltimore’s largest containership client, threatening to abandon the port because of political interference with the port authority.
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