When Cale Hall and Travis Sawyer came up with the idea for Creative Approach in 2004, they had little funding and even less space in their garden-level apartment on Tattnall Street.

But they knew what they wanted their fledgling company to be.

“We wanted to offer high quality digital printing with the help and advice of a trained staff,” Hall said. “But we wanted it to be more than that — we wanted it to be a print shop that was fast, efficient and convenient.”

Less than 10 years later, the company that caters to Savannah College of Art and Design students, local businesses and other professionals is growing and thriving in a new, spacious location with a variety of services that range from business cards to banners, Giclée prints to vinyl wrapping, much of it on a same-day basis.

On any given day, the shop bustles with SCAD students working at the bank of computers along one wall, business people putting in orders and artists picking up the latest batch of prints.

But it wasn’t always that way.

“We opened the shop in the spring of 2005,” Hall said. “Just when we thought we were starting to catch on, SCAD went on summer break.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse, Sawyer said.

“But we had actually played around in the beginning with the idea of a combination print shop/coffee shop, so we fell back on the coffee shop concept.

“Selling coffee and chicken sandwiches literally got us through the summer,” he said, laughing.

By mid-October that year, the students were back and Creative Approach was starting to get busy.

“We filled a niche that no one else wanted to fill,” Sawyer said.

During its first two years, the little print shop was open 24/7, catering to students and business people on deadline. It still stays open 24/7 during SCAD finals week.

“Our prices were competitive with online printing sites, but we were quicker,” Hall said. When they literally ran out of room — “We had to offer same-day service because we had no storage for completed jobs” — the two moved to a 1,500-square-foot shop on Jefferson Street.

“We lived above the shop, mostly on bread and water,” Hall joked.

In 2008, Mark Fountain — Hall’s partner in another downtown business — joined Hall and Sawyer, each bringing unique talents to the mix.

With an MBA from South College, Hall is the businessman. Sawyer, a SCAD graduate whose grandfather was a printer, has the technical expertise. And Fountain, who holds an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, handles real estate issues and takes the lead on finances.

“It’s been a solid business from the beginning,” Fountain said. “But it was under-funded. Unfortunately for small businesses, banks don’t often want to lend you money until you have so much money in the bank you don’t need a loan.

“It takes a willingness to go the distance and a passion to do what it takes to serve the customer’s needs. Failure was never an option for us.”

Today, that stick-to-it determination is embodied in a thriving business near the corner of Taylor Street and MLK Boulevard, its bright, open spaces dotted with computers, state-of-the art printing equipment and customers coming and going.

Many people come in with their projects or prints on a flash drive, plug them into one of the shop’s computers, talk to a staff member about what they want and walk out with the finished product in under an hour, Hall said.

Stephan Bauer, a senior photography major at SCAD who discovered Creative Approach through a friend, said he comes in on a regular basis.

“The staff is great, it’s quick, easy and not too expensive,” he said. “And the quality is excellent.”

Just what its creators had hoped it would be.

ON THE WEB

To view the company’s website, go to www.mycreativeapproach.com.

During a break between sessions at Saturday’s Savannah Book Festival, I revisited the exhibit of paintings by Preston Russell in the parlor of the Telfair Academy.

After hearing so many words in the previous couple of hours, the immersion in images was a welcome relief.

As indicated by the name of the exhibit, “Low Country Memories,” Russell’s work has a clear grounding in place and in history. The show comes down on Sunday, so you’re running out of time to see it.

Russell’s paintings are well suited for the Academy, which itself has played such an important role in Savannah’s civic life.

The buildings around Telfair Square — Trinity United Methodist Church plus the Telfair Museums’ old Academy and newer Jepson Center for the Arts — lend an additional depth to the book festival’s increasingly impressive offerings.

Former Vice President Al Gore could hardly have found a more beautiful stage than Trinity, and I was lucky to see two writers — Susanna Sonnenberg and J.R. Moehringer — talk about their work in the sculpture gallery at the Telfair Academy.

The writers’ transitory words seemed especially rich juxtaposed with the permanence of the art behind them — the sculpture of the dying Gaul and paintings by the likes of Frederick Carl Frieseke and Gari Melchers.

In just six years, the Savannah Book Festival has grown explosively, with sold-out special events at Trustees Theater and impressive turnout for the Saturday festival with as many as six authors appearing simultaneously throughout the day.

While a few hundred were waiting to have Gore sign their books, I tried to get into Paula McClain in the Jepson’s Neises Auditorium, but that was full. At the same time, more than 100 folks were listening to Back in the Day bakery owners Cheryl and Griffith Day in a tent in the square. Another 125 were listening to Sonnenberg.

Later, I was among the many who couldn’t get into the Telfair Academy rotunda to hear T.C. Boyle, but there were plenty of other diversions.

Mentally exhausted, I left before the end of the presentations, but did watch historian Garry Wills, who appeared last week on “The Colbert Report,” via C-SPAN’s Book TV speaking to a sizable crowd in the final time slot at Trinity.

I don’t know what the best course is for the book festival going forward. The event has already grown to the point where all six presentation spaces are full or close to it.

To accommodate additional visitors, the event will need to spread out in either time or space. Both choices would present logistical problems.

But those are good problems to have.

City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.

Big weekly jump for local gas prices

Average retail gasoline prices in Savannah have risen 13.9 cents a gallon in the past week to $3.64 a gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 262 gas outlets in Savannah.

The national average has increased 11.9 cents a gallon to $3.68, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Prices Sunday were 7.9 cents a gallon higher than one year ago and are 28.8 cents a gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 42.2 cents a gallon during the last month and stands 16.7 cents higher than a year ago.

“The steady climb of retail gas prices is likely to continue following double-digit increases in wholesale prices with fuel production tightening in the majority of the country’s refineries,” said GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Gregg Laskoski.

“Los Angeles has climbed to $4.28 per gallon with a 55-cent average price increase in the past month, and that rate was surpassed in Chicago ($4.09 average price) and Detroit ($3.86 per gallon average), where motorists saw 63- and 64-cent respective increases over the same period.”

2012 safest year for Jesup mill

JESUP – Rayonier’s Performance Fibers Jesup Mill had the safest year in its history in 2012 with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incident rate (RIR) of 1.16. The mill had 11 recordable incidents — four hearing-loss cases and seven injuries requiring treatment greater than first aid.

In 2002, the Jesup Mill’s recordable incident rate was 3.92 with 35 recordable incidents.

“It is Rayonier’s goal to be the safest forest products company in the industry. Last year’s safety performance is clearly a step in that direction,” said general manager Jack Perrett. “We applaud all of our employees for their ongoing commitment to safety.”

Seminar to focus on franchises

Hancock Askew and Frant Net will host a seminar from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 26 at Hancock Askew’s offices at 100 Riverview Drive on whether franchise ownership is right for you.

Topics will include what is a franchise, how much do they cost, how to research franchise businesses and a number of related issues such as investing in a franchise-proven business model. Presenters will compare business ownership models and go over starting a business from scratch compared to buying an existing business.

Accountant John Swanner will give an account’s view of buying and operating a franchise.

To RSVP, go to: http://catheypetkash022613.eventbrite.com/.

For more information, contact Ann Carroll at 912-704-7650 or acarroll@hancockaskew.com.

Two months after completing his five-plus years as an Army medic, Dan Huber is still looking for a job. And while he’s had some promising interviews, he has no assurances the search will end soon.

That’s given him some insight that he shares with some of his buddies back at Fort Polk in Louisiana: Don’t wait until you’ve left the military to determine how you’ll make ends meet as a civilian.

“I’ve told them: ‘Hey, man, you guys have really got to start planning months and months in advance,’” said Huber, 26, of Waukesha, Wis.

The job problems for younger vets, who tend to have a much harder time finding work follwing the Sept. 11 attack, have continued despite a wide range of private and public efforts. Congress approved tax credits for companies that hire veterans. Federal agencies stepped up their preferential hiring of vets. Many thousands are taking advantage of a generous package of educational benefits instead of entering the job market. Companies such as Wal-Mart, General Electric and many others announced programs designed to hire more veterans. And organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have helped put on hundreds of job fairs around the company.

Kevin Schmiegel, a retired lieutenant colonel who spent years trying to get young Marines to re-enlist, says the youngest vets are making a couple of critical mistakes when it comes to searching for a job.

With little job experience outside the military, many can’t explain how the skills they learned in the military translate to the private sector, said Schmiegel, now executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program. The program has helped more than 14,000 veterans land jobs and will be fine-tuning its focus over the coming year to help younger vets, as well as military spouses.

Trooper Deon Cockrell, military liaison for the Texas Department of Public Safety, had a similar take at a recent job fair in Oklahoma City. He said the discipline and skills acquired during military service translate well to a career in law enforcement.

“A lot of them don’t know that they’re eligible,” Cockrell said.

Congress tried to help with the transition to civilian life. Since November 2011, departing service members are required to attend various workshops designed to help them with such things as how to write effective resumes and cover letters and improve their interview skills. Previously, the training was voluntary, which greatly lessened participation rates.

Schmiegel said the second problem he sees most frequently among young veterans is the desire to go home regardless of job prospects.

“They are making a decision of the heart. They are not going to where the jobs are. They are not going to the industries that are hiring,” Schmiegel said.

His organization has developed a computer website with Google and various federal agencies designed to point veterans to the 100 fastest-growing cities and the five or six industries within those communities that are doing the most hiring. The aim is to push veterans to use their educational benefits to get training in a high-demand field and then relocate.

Curtis Coy, an undersecretary at the Veterans Affairs Department, said expanded educational benefits are playing an important role in lowering the unemployment rate as hundreds of thousands of veterans attend college through a program that covers tuition and fees, housing, books and relocation expenses. Participation in the Post 9/11 GI Bill program has jumped from about 366,000 in 2010 to 646,000 in the latest year. Some of those enrolled are spouses or children of a veteran. The program allows veterans to transfer their benefits to immediate family members if they have six years of service and commit to another four.

Coy said he’s confident the employment trend is moving in the right direction. He says younger veterans often need a little time to figure out what they’re going to do when they get out of the service. “I’m a 24-year veteran, so I’m acutely aware of standing there at the steps going, ‘So what do I do now?’”

The state of Georgia experienced its fourth consecutive record year for international trade in 2012, surpassing 2011 milestones in both imports and exports, according to information released this week by the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Based on U.S. Census Bureau statistics released this month, the state’s exports were up 3.2 percent — a $1.1 billion increase — compared to 2011. The total value of goods exported from Georgia totaled $35.8 billion, the most the state has ever exported in a single year and an indication that Georgia companies are aggressively pursuing international markets.

Since the announcement of the National Export Initiative in 2009, exports from Georgia have grown 51 percent.

“These figures are a good sign for Georgia’s economy,” said Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the state economic development office. “Last year, companies in 79 percent of Georgia counties utilized our international trade services to expand their markets and strengthen their businesses.

“With the fastest-growing port in the country and a world-renowned international airport, Georgia already has the resources in place to provide a multitude of opportunities for exporters.”

Georgia retained its ranking as the nation’s 12th leading U.S. state in dollar value of exports. Canada, China, Mexico, Singapore and Japan remained Georgia’s top five export destinations — together accounting for 42 percent of the state’s exports.

Canada alone accounted for 18 percent of Georgia’s exports. The United Kingdom moved to sixth on the export destination list, up from eighth in 2011. Germany dropped to Georgia’s seventh leading export market.

Among Georgia’s top 10 export destinations, which accounted for 56 percent of the state’s total exports, the largest increases in exports were to Mexico, China, Australia and the United Kingdom.

By region, Georgia’s leading export destinations were Asia at 35 percent, North America at 29 percent and Europe at 22 percent.

Machinery, vehicles, wood pulp lead way

Georgia’s leading export industries ranked by dollar value were non-electric machinery — mostly JCB and Caterpillar machinery — aircraft/spacecraft, non-railway vehicles, electrical machinery and wood pulp. These five industry sectors accounted for 52 percent of Georgia’s exports; while the top 10 industry sectors accounted for 71 percent.

Georgia exports of non-electric machinery in 2012 grew 13 percent to $5 billion, accounting for 16 percent of the state’s total exports. Georgia’s meat industry grew by 21 percent in 2012, an increase of more than $220 million.

Georgia led all other U.S. states in the export of meat and poultry products; chemical wood pulp, soda or sulfate; cotton; kraft paper & paperboard; chemical wood pulp, dissolving grade; carpet; kaolin; and peanuts.

At the Port of Savannah, wood pulp was the largest and fastest growing export commodity, increasing by nearly 18,000 containers — or 11 percent — in fiscal 2012. Savannah is by far the leading exporter of poultry in the country.

“Exporting creates twice as many jobs as domestic trade. For every job created in making the product, another job is created in getting the product to market,” said Kathe Falls, director of trade for the state department of economic development, adding the, “It’s not just for the ‘big guys’. In Georgia, 50 percent of the companies helped by our department have 30 employees or less.”

Imports continue to climb

The state’s imports outpaced exports by approximately $36.5 billion. Georgia companies imported more than $72 billion in goods in 2012, an increase of 8 percent — or $5.4 billion — over 2011.

Georgia ranked ninth among U.S. states and second in the Southeast in dollar value of imports. Among U.S. states, Georgia ranked first in dollar value of imports from Germany and Chile, third in imports from South Korea and Thailand, and fifth in imports from Malaysia.

These top five import countries accounted for 60 percent of Georgia’s imports. Among the state’s 10 largest importer nations, the largest increase was from South Korea, followed by Germany and Japan.

Savannah’s top imports are furniture, toys, housewares, hardware, apparel, auto parts and other consumer goods mostly from Asia — China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India.

Imports from Germany are mostly machinery, specialty paper and chemicals, as well as auto parts.

Among U.S. states, Georgia ranked first in dollar value of imports from Germany and Chile, third in imports from South Korea and Thailand, and fifth in imports from Malaysia.

Georgia’s International Trade Office is a part of the Global Commerce Division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. With the support of the state’s 10 international representatives, the trade office helps Georgia manufacturers and professional service providers increase exports, and promotes trade with Georgia in key global markets.

Storytelling is a wonderful part of our city. From unique storytelling events, like this past weekend’s book festival that hosted renowned authors reading their own works, to the almost common sound of a period actor waxing to tourists in a downtown square, we’ve got great stories to tell and people to tell them.

But the business of storytelling here in Savannah is not just limited to authors and actors. Storytelling is an integral part of our business community. And not simply in the expected realms of advertising and marketing. Believe it or not, storytelling is also a major part of economic development. It’s the first step to evangelizing and growing a new business idea that will eventually generate jobs and economic growth.

Most people creating something new know they can protect their idea with the help of a patent attorney. Or they know they can set up a new business structure, like a corporation, with a good CPA. But few entrepreneurs understand the first step to creating a new business is learning how to tell a good story.

It’s not enough to work their way through a checklist of how to start a business. Growing any idea is about recruiting people — investors, connections and eventually customers — and momentum. If a great idea can’t be shared, it’s impossible to attract the human capital needed to make it a reality. The business of storytelling is the critical first step to gathering the right people around an idea that can help bring it to life.

In Savannah, we have access to world-class professional services such as CPAs and attorneys, but did you know we also train business storytellers? It’s offered through an event called FastPitch, and for the third year, those with dreams of starting a new business or launching a new product will take the stage on March 28 to tell their stories. They’ll compete for $6,000 in cash and garner much needed attention from investors and local businesses.

The event, organized by Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center, and The Creative Coast, provides applicants with guidance and practice sessions with seasoned business “storytellers” to better hone their pitches. And backed by some amazing sponsors, this year’s event is looking to be better than ever.

Make no mistake, sharing a new idea with an eager audience of investors, local business, city and academic leaders and the press is hard. But our local creators, doers and risk takers know that telling a better story is the critical first step in growing their new business here in Savannah.

And while the best stories, or pitches, may win some cash, everyone participating gains one of the most valuable tools needed to start anything new: Experience crafting and sharing their story.

So mark your calendar for March 28 and come out to hear a different kind of storytelling. Not stories of days gone by or some entertaining fiction, but stories of the future, of what could be, told by the people who are dreaming of that future right now.

Radford Harrell serves on the board of The Creative Coast, is CEO of TalentSoup, and tells a lot of stories. He can be reached at 912-289-7728 or rad@talentsoup.com.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is so confident it has the Internet’s best email service that it is about to spend at least $30 million to send its message across the U.S.

The barrage began Tuesday when Microsoft’s twist on email, Outlook.com, escalated an assault on rival services from Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc. and a long list of Internet service providers.

As part of the process, all users of Microsoft’s Hotmail and other email services operating under different domains such as MSN.com will be automatically converted to Outlook.com by the summer, if they don’t voluntarily switch before then. All the old messages, contacts and settings in the old inboxes will be exported to Outlook.com. Users will also be able to keep their old addresses.

Email remains a key battleground, even now when more people are texting on phones.

People still regularly check their inboxes, albeit increasingly on their smartphones. The recurring email habit provides Internet companies a way to keep people coming back to websites. It gives people a reason to log in during their visits so it’s easier for email providers to track their activities. Frequent visits and personal identification are two of the keys to selling ads, the main way most websites make money.

That’s why Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have been retooling their email services in recent months.

After keeping Outlook.com in a “preview” phase since July 31, Microsoft Corp. is ready to accept all comers.

To welcome new users, Microsoft is financing what it believes to be the biggest marketing blitz in the history of email. Outlook.com will be featured in ads running on prime-time TV, radio stations, websites, billboards and buses. Microsoft expects to spend somewhere between $30 million to $90 million on the Outlook campaign.

The Outlook ads will overlap with an anti-Gmail marketing campaign that Microsoft launched earlier this month. The “Scroogled” attacks depict Gmail as a snoopy service that scans the contents of messages to deliver ads related to topics being discussed.

The Gmail ads are meant to be educational while the Outlook campaign is motivational, said Dharmesh Mehta, Outlook.com’s senior director.

“We are trying to push people who have gotten lazy and comfortable with an email service that may not be all that great and help show them what email can really do for them,” Mehta said.

By Microsoft’s own admission, Hotmail had lost the competitive edge that once made it the world’s largest email service. The lack of innovation left an opening for Google to exploit when it unveiled Gmail nearly nine years ago.

Gmail is now the industry leader, although estimates on its popularity vary.

Google says Gmail has more than 425 million accountholders, including those that visit only on smartphones and other mobile devices.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., is counting on Outlook.com to catapult the company back to the top of the email heap. During the preview period, Outlook attracted 60 million accountholders, including about 20 million that defected from Gmail, according to Microsoft. Comscore listed Outlook with 38 million users through December.

The new features being introduced in Outlook include: The ability to send massive files, including hundreds of photos at a time, in a single email; address books that automatically update new contact information that connections post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; and about 60 percent fewer ads than Hotmail.

None of these features are revolutionary. Google already has been giving its users the option to switch to a new version of Gmail that also allows for larger files to be sent in a single email. And address books in Gmail already fetch new contact information posted on Google Plus, although it doesn’t yet mine Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Google declined to comment on Outlook.com. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., plans to convert all of its Gmail users to its redesigned format within the next few months.

Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. revamped its email service late last year in an effort to provide a more consistent experience on personal computers and mobile devices.

Outlook.com is the latest in a series of major product leases from Microsoft, which has been struggling to regain the cachet that once made it the world’s most valuable technology company.

Now, both Apple Inc. and Google are worth more because they have been growing far faster than Microsoft as their products win more fans. Apple’s biggest gains have come from the iPhone and IPad, while Google has been benefiting from its dominance in Internet search and its widely used Android software for mobile devices.

Microsoft has been trying to catch up with a major makeover of its Windows operating system, new smartphone software and a tablet computer called Surface. Like Outlook.com, all those products have been backed by expensive marketing campaigns in recent months.

Investors evidently aren’t convinced there will be a big payoff. Microsoft’s stock increased 26 cents Tuesday to close at $28.05. That’s just 20 cents above the stock’s price in late October when Microsoft released Windows 8. Google’s stock has surged by 19 percent during the same stretch.

This week in BiS:

• Rose and Fred Malunes operate Savannah’s “only authentic Filipino Restaurant.” They’re looking for a bigger space to expand their catering and be able to serve more customers.

• The Art Bash Studio hosts group parties and open events where art coaches guide attendees step-by-step through re-creating a featured painting and allows “adults to just kinda act like kids” and “let go of their troubles.”

• Tax adviser Cindy Klein has advice for people who own rental homes and discusses “a plethora of deductions.” She suggests you organize your rental home tax records, including rental income, expenses and assets.

• Logistics and transportation attorney Brad Harmon discusses multi-channel commerce, which merges physical and virtual retail operations and enables customers to conduct transactions in many different ways — from brick and mortar stores and social media to online stores, apps, smart phones and email.

• Lydia Ramsey, who writes about the manners of business, says punctuality is critical to good business relationships.

Saint Thomas Thrift Store has record sales

Saint Thomas Thrift Store has announced it experienced record sales in 2012 and has been able to award $45,050 in grants to 42 community organizations and ministries, including 30 grants made to nonprofits for the first time.

The store at 1126 Montgomery Cross Road is a nonprofit organization that collects donated merchandise such as clothing, household goods, books, sports equipment, collectibles and decorative items to finance outreach ministries at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

“Of course, we can’t wait to work hard together in 2013 to reach a brand new high in grant award money and support more and more organizations,” said communications volunteer Chandler Case.

The store, founded in 1997, is operated by volunteers and is open Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

2013 Hilton Head Island Seafood Fest scheduled

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The sixth annual Hilton Head Island Seafood Fest, sponsored by the David M. Carmines Memorial Foundation, is set to take place from 5-8 p.m. April 5 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 6 at Shelter Cove Community Park.

The event serves as the foundation’s annual fundraiser with proceeds – from admissions, beverage sales, restaurant purveyor fees, artists’ fees and auction funds – benefiting the American Cancer Society, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center and the Island Recreation Scholarship Fund.

Admission is $5 for adults and free for kids younger than 12. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase with tickets.

For additional information, go to davidmcarmines.org, or call 843-681-2772 ext. 137.

Canned food drive to benefit food bank

Papa’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood on Whitemarsh Island and America’s Second Harvest have teamed up to “can hunger.” February is national canned food month, and Papa’s is having a canned food drive to help America’s Second Harvest.

Bring cans and boxes of nonperishable food to Papa’s at 119 Charlotte Road. You’ll receive a ticket for each item for a chance to win prizes that include Papa’s gift cards, T-shirts, bottles of barbecue sauce or a Lester’s Florist flower arrangement.

The grand prize of dinner for 12 (to be picked up) will be awarded on Feb. 28. For more information, contact Papa’s at 912-897-0236 or papasbarbque@hotmail.com.

Enmark to open new Bluffton store

BLUFFTON, S.C. — Enmark Stations, Inc. will celebrate the grand opening of its newest location in Bluffton from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. The station on the corner of U.S. 278 and Island West Park is the company’s fourth store in Bluffton.

Members of the Greater Bluffton Chamber of Commerce will be on hand for the ribbon-cutting, which will take place at noon.

Festivities will also include free ice cream sandwiches, samples of Enmark’s Krispy Krunchy chicken and 25-cent hot dogs and sodas. Enmark Cash Cards will be given out throughout the day, along with coupons for free fountain drinks and coupons good toward chicken dinners.

Guests can also register to win a 46-inch Samsung TV, a bicycle and a Weber charcoal grill.

Savannah-based Enmark operates 62 stores in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Entrepreneur workshop open to the public

BEAUFORT, S.C. — The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Technical College of the Lowcountry have partnered with BizBuilderSC to offer a 12-session workshop open to entrepreneurs who want to expand their business and need the skills to help make it grow. The workshop is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina.

NxLevel for Entrepreneurs will be held at the Technical College of the Lowcountry, Beaufort Campus, from 6 to 9 p.m., Tuesdays, April 9 through June 25. Cost is $195 and includes book, materials and snacks.

BizBuilderSC is the statewide entrepreneur and small business training program that provides the framework and basic skills to develop and grow a small business.

To register, call the TCL Continuing Education Department at 843-525-8205 or go to the BizBuilderSC website http://www.bizbuildersc.com.

For more information, contact Amanda Hayman at TCL at ahayman@tcl.edu or at 843-525-8308.

Delta flight 2307 ended its routine daily trip from Atlanta to Savannah late Tuesday afternoon with some out-of-the ordinary drama when the Boeing (Douglas) DC-9 carrying 125 passengers and crew overshot the taxiway after landing and ended up in the grass.

No one was injured and passengers and crew were able to safely exit the plane, which was towed to a gate at the terminal several hours later.

Airport spokeswoman Lori Lynah said overall operations were unaffected by the incident.

Delta issued an apology Tuesday night for the inconvenience.

“The aircraft was examined by a team of Delta technicians and is now repositioning back to Atlanta,” Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said Wednesday.

“We are also following up with each customer today to offer an additional apology for the inconvenience.”

The plane left Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport shortly after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and landed at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on schedule about 6:45 p.m.

As it was turning from runway No. 1 onto the taxiway, the plane’s front wheel went off the hard surface and into the grass. Eventually, the entire plane ended up stuck in the grass adjacent to the taxiway.

And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, according to one passenger.

“If we hadn’t gone into the grass, I’m not at all sure we could have stopped before we got to the terminal,” said Christine Bennetts of Southport, England, who flew from Manchester to Atlanta yesterday, then on to Savannah on Delta 2307 for an art seminar.

“It was an absolutely normal flight almost to the end,” Bennetts said, adding that the aircraft descended into Savannah through thick cloud cover.

“When we got down to about 200 feet and the clouds broke, we could tell the plane was going too fast,” she said. “The angle just didn’t seem right.”

The landing was hard and the plane was still traveling fast as they approached the end of the runway, Bennetts said.

“The pilot tried to turn the airplane to the left, but that just wasn’t going to happen and we went into the grass. After we came to a stop, the pilot apologized profusely, over and over,” she said.

There was no panic, Bennetts added, and the pilot came on the intercom every few minutes to keep the passengers informed.

She also had praise for airport and emergency personnel.

“The fire crews and police were there in what seemed like only seconds,” she said. “There was someone in what looked like a space suit checking the outside of the plane for fuel leaks.”

Once workers had the plane stabilized in place, they deployed a set of inflatable staircases off the back of the aircraft, Bennetts said, helping women and children off first.

“We were put on buses and escorted to the terminal, where they gave us refreshments while they checked to make sure everyone was accounted for and determined that it was safe to unload our luggage,” she said.

“Everyone was extremely efficient and professional.”

Delta gave each passenger a $200 voucher for the inconvenience, Bennetts said, adding that she would use it without hesitation.

“I’m not the slightest bit worried about flying again.”

Delta’s Durrant said it was premature to speculate on what might have caused the incident.

“We’re still reviewing all that happened,” he said.

Let’s talk good ole’ monetary policy today, or more to the point, the limits of monetary policy effectiveness.

I have thought about this topic several times over the past months, but it wasn’t until I read a profile of Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, that I found a kindred spirit.

He fears the path the Fed is walking by keeping both short-term and long-term rates at historic lows will only fuel the fires of inflation when, in his words: “We are at the limits of our understanding of how monetary policy affects the economy.”

Well put. There is no GPS to guide us through the darkness.

The Fed has a dual mandate: Job creation on the one hand and price stability on the other. Simply put, job creation means keeping interest rates low so employers will borrow to invest in their businesses and hire more people.

The other hand means raising interest rates to prevent the economy from being stressed to the point that wage hikes and price hikes push the cost of goods and services to such an unmanageable point that producers are squeezed out of business and the economy crashes.

That is Mr. Lacker’s fear.

I do not necessarily subscribe to Mr. Lacker’s pessimism. I do feel the Fed will have the ability to foresee inflationary pressure from many data sets and move quickly enough to control it. The move by no means will be perfect, and the media will wax hysterically enough to scare the public, as usual.

The bigger issue today is the first hand — job creation. Have lower interest rates really worked to create more jobs? I think the answer is yes, but…

In my experience as an observer of monetary policy since the late 1960s, the economy has never been as slow to respond to stimulus. Unquestionably, others have noticed this, as evidenced by Mr. Lacker’s misgivings. No doubt bond traders have as well.

Simply put, monetary policy appears to have hit a point of diminishing returns. Short-term rates cannot go lower, and long-term rates, already held low by the Fed’s bond and mortgage-buying program, are focused on making housing attractive.

For the latter to go lower still would be entering Mr. Lacker’s realm of the unknown, and to that I would agree — there is a significant danger. This lingering feeling of recession then is all about a housing recovery and, in particular, new construction.

It has crossed my mind that the Fed is now just putting on a good face, pretending that additional stimulus in its tool chest will work, if only to contain the level of uncertainty about which businesses and markets are already concerned.

I wonder if some of the governors and other bank presidents, who sit on the Federal Open Market Committee, aren’t already resigned to the prospect that they must keep a steady foot on the gas, try not to allow things to get worse and just hang on until the residential construction ship ever so slowly rights itself.

If you have ever wondered why the securities markets have done well, corporate earnings have been good so far and yet unemployment numbers remain frustratingly high, housing is most of the answer. However, when a universally healthy construction industry finally comes, I would bet against expectations of a return to 4 to 5 percent unemployment rates for the foreseeable future.

In hindsight, by 2007 the swollen housing sector was an accident looking for a place to happen, and I would be remiss to suggest that we can hit such intense construction levels again.

At the bottom of this entire recession was a massive correction in housing prices, more than just disequilibrium between supply and demand.

Here then is something the Fed appears unable to influence. Even fiscal policy, now impotent and reeling under the weight of debt ceiling, deficit spending and debt levels approaching GDP, has had little effect. =Putting a little money in the hands of the public has hopefully helped, but five years on the correction is still painfully slow.

Free-market purists clearly have a poster child. The housing market is on its own; it is a process of time.

Russ Wigh is a professor of business. Email him at rdwigh@bellsouth.net.

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is renovating the main entry into its website in an effort to get people to visit more frequently and stay longer.

The long-awaited makeover of Yahoo.com’s home page is the most notable change to the website since the Internet company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO seven months ago. The new look debuted Wednesday in the U.S., although it could take a few more days before everyone starts to see it.

It’s the first time Yahoo has redesigned the page in four years. In that time, the company has seen its annual revenue drop by about 30 percent from $7.2 billion in 2008 to $5 billion last year as more online advertising flowed to rivals such as Internet search leader Google Inc. and social networking leader Facebook Inc.

Mayer, who spent 13 years helping to build Google into the Internet’s most powerful company, has vowed to revive Yahoo Inc.’s revenue growth by establishing more of the company’s services as daily habits that “delight and inspire” their users.

Yahoo.com’s revamped home page figures to play a key role in determining whether Mayer, 37, realizes her ambition.

“We think this will be the new foundation for Yahoo,” said Mike Kerns, the company’s vice president of product.

Despite the company’s recent financial malaise, Yahoo’s home page has remained one of the Internet’s top destinations. The page attracted 392 million worldwide visitors last month, a 7 percent increase from 365 million at the same time last year, according to research firm comScore Inc. By comparison, Microsoft Corp.’s msn.com drew a crowd of 334 million, up 4 percent from last year.

But visitors haven’t been spending as much time at Yahoo.com when they check in. They also haven’t been making as many return visits each month. That’s been a problem for many other websites, too, as Facebook and other online hangouts capture more of people’s online time.

Yahoo’s revamped home page isn’t a radical new look, but there are enough changes that could make the website more addictive. In a blog post, Mayer wrote that she is trying to infuse Yahoo’s home page with a “more modern experience.”

The biggest switch will be in how Yahoo determines which stories to show each visitor on the home page and how the information is displayed.

Kerns says Yahoo has developed more sophisticated formulas to determine which topics are most likely to appeal to different people so the news feed can be fine-tuned to cater to different tastes.

Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., already knows a lot about people who have been coming to its website for years, particularly if they logged in while visiting. People willing to connect Yahoo with their social circles on Facebook also are more apt to see stories that appeal to them. That access will enable Yahoo to pick out stories about subjects tied to a person’s interests on Facebook, either directly or through their online friendships. More tools will empower users to designate their areas of interest, too.

The news feed also has been retooled so it is constantly refreshed with more material as a person scrolls down the page. The ability to endlessly peruse stories is ideally suited for viewing on smartphones and tablet computers controlled by touch, although the feature also works on desktop machines operated with a mouse or keyboard.

Yahoo’s new home page also shows snippets of text from each story, borrowing a page from the Google playbook that Mayer helped write. Those summaries may be especially handy on the smaller screens of mobile devices, a growing market that Mayer has said Yahoo must do a better job reaching if the company hopes to bounce back.

To minimize the chances that its story selections will irritate users, Yahoo is also adding controls that make it easy to inform the website about which topics aren’t of interest.

The right side of the new home page will be devoted to a stack of capsules that Yahoo calls “utilities.”

The capsules are devoted to weather, finance, sports, friends’ birthdays, video clips and Yahoo’s Flickr site for photos. Each one can be programmed to automatically show what a user wants to see, such as the weather in a specific city, information about a certain sports teams or the stocks in an individual’s investment portfolio. Any of the utilities can be scrapped.

The left side of the page will list various Yahoo services, although slightly fewer than in the old setup.

Yahoo is planning to display just two ads on the home page. It’s an implicit bet that the price that the company can charge for those slots will steadily rise if people become more immersed in the rest of the content on the page.

Investors have been betting Mayer will deliver the turnaround that eluded the three other full-time CEOs that preceded her in the past five years. Yahoo’s stock dipped 4 cents to $21.23 in early afternoon trading Wednesday. It has increased 36 percent since Mayer’s arrival.

NEW YAHOO: The home page that Is the gateway to Yahoo’s online services has been redesigned in an effort to spur more frequent and longer visits. Yahoo Inc. unveiled the changes Wednesday in the U.S.

SURFS UP? Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is counting on the revamped home page to be a hit with Web surfers and online advertisers, helping the slumping Internet company to generate stronger revenue growth.

SCROLL ON AND ON: In the most noticeable change, Yahoo’s new home page includes the ability to endlessly scroll through a selection of stories tailored for an individual user’s tastes.

ATLANTA — Savannah’s job growth will be at a healthy pace for the remainder of 2013, according to economic predictions released Wednesday.

Statewide, Georgia’s 2013 job growth and exports will also be positive but slower and less than last year. The state’s unemployment rate will hold steady at 8.6 percent, according to a forecast released by the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University.

“Savannah’s economy created more than 3,600 new jobs in the second half of 2012, up from 1,000 new jobs in the first half,” wrote Rajeev Dhawan, director of the center. “The gains were widespread across categories, with large increases in the education and health, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and trade and manufacturing sectors.”

The metro Savannah area is still 7,000 jobs short of full recovery from the recent recession, but the area unemployment rate declined from a midyear 8.8 percent to 8.2 by year end.

The Savannah forecast calls for this year’s employment base to grow 2.2 percent compared to 0.9 percent last year.

For the state as a whole, the outlook is slightly less bullish.

“We have survived election uncertainties and fiscal-cliff hijinks,” Dhawan wrote. “Have we turned a corner at the state and metro (Atlanta) level? The answer is a conditional yes.”

The state’s economy will continue to expand for the rest of this year with little risk of falling back into recession. Overall job creation will result in 63,200 new hires — or 1.7 percent — compared to 70,300 last year. Still, that’s an improvement over the 32,500 new jobs of 2011.

The education/health care sector, which has generally been chugging along throughout the recession, will accelerate its job production, the forecast predicts, because questions about the Affordable Care Act are settled.

“Knowing that the act will not be repealed, many hospitals are gearing up for expansion,” Dhawan said.

That’s also fueling growth in the information-technology sector, which is supporting the law’s mandate for electronic medical records. Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law and the voters re-elected its sponsor, President Barack Obama, the IT sector added 2,300 jobs, more than half of the sector’s annual growth. Georgia State is forecasting it will add 4,000 jobs annually for the next 10 years.

Just hours after Dhawan released his forecast, Gov. Nathan Deal announced that the Ernst & Young consulting firm is opening a global IT center in Georgia with 400 new jobs.

“Georgia’s talent, affordability and willingness to embrace and support cutting-edge innovation have drawn quite a wave of technology-focused investment lately,” said Deal.

On the other hand, exports are weakening due to troubled overseas markets that erode employment for Georgia exporters. Europe’s debt crisis, Japan’s recession and China’s inflation-fighting capital freeze all limit demand for Georgia-made exports such as jet planes, cars and poultry.

Georgia’s exports hit a record last year, for the fourth year in a row.

Economic Development Commissioner Chris Cummiskey told the Savannah Morning News Tuesday that despite the global weakness in demand, the state can still boost its international sales.

“With the fastest-growing port in the country and a proactive trade team, it’s no accident our numbers are growing,” he said. “Prioritizing the proposed deepening of the Savannah Ports will only add to our companies’ trade successes.”

Wilhelmina Scott has what most would call a thankless job — though you’d never know it by her sunny disposition and always helpful attitude.

The city of Savannah employee cleans bathrooms and provides other janitorial services at the River Street Welcome Center.

On Thursday night, her “thankless” job was anything but, as the Tourism Leadership Council awarded her with its new “I am Tourism” award at the group’s 15th annual Tourism Awards and Scholarship Banquet at the Hyatt Regency Savannah. Mayor Edna Jackson and other city officials congratulated Scott after she received the award.

Click here to view Spotted® photos of this event

“The ‘I am Tourism’ award was created to honor a hospitality professional who embodies the core ethics of our industry — commitment, integrity, selfless service and kindness,” TLC president and CEO Michael Owens told the audience of professionals gathered in the ballroom.

“This year’s winner serves as an example to us all. Her title is building services worker, but many of the thousands of visitors she interacts with will tell you it should be Savannah’s greatest ambassador,” he said.

“While some might view her position as a modest one, she views her job as an opportunity to share the hospitality that Savannah is known for — and always with a smile.”

When reviewing her nomination for the service star award, TLC officials found stacks of comment cards endorsing her ability to go above and beyond in every way, Owens said. One visitor from Florida said “The lady cleaning the restroom was the sweetest, most helpful person I encountered during my entire visit.”

While she had been nominated for the service star, the TLC decided to create a new award just for her — one that highlights the fact everyone in the tourism industry has the opportunity to make a positive difference.

“Wilhelmina Scott, you set a very high standard for the rest of us working in hospitality. You remind us that, regardless of our duties, our most important priority is the guest that we all ultimately serve,” Owens said.

“Tonight we honor you. We honor your commitment to our visitors and your commitment to your job and the tenets of our industry.”

In addition to the “I am Tourism” award, the TLC presented the Herb and Franklin Traub Visionary Award to Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson for “bringing community, industry and business together and creating dialog and discussion to promote positive change in our city.”

Peter Doliber, executive director, of the West Broad Street YMCA, received the John P. Rousakis Community Champion Award. The award, named in memory of the former Savannah mayor, is given to an individual responsible for supporting tourism and promoting Savannah.

The TLC Member of the Year Award, given to a member who has demonstrated consistent dedication to the organization, went to Bob Coffey, general manager of the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center

Dot Davis, manager of the Georgia Visitor Information Center on Interstate 95, received the TLC Service Leader Award, while the Service Star Award went to Charlie Wentway, bar manager at Garibaldi’s. Both service awards recognize exemplary job performance in the hospitality industry.

In addition to the tourism awards, the group also presented scholarships to three area students pursuing hospitality careers.

Receiving $2,000 scholarships were Evgeniya Krasnoslobodtseva, a first-year hospitality management student at Savannah Technical College; and Tania Smith-Jones, a Savannah native who currently attends Strayer University as a hospitality and tourism management major. Alcatrenia White, a marketing management major at Savannah Technical College, was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

To date, the TLC has given more than $55,000 in scholarships to area students.

ABOUT TLC

The Tourism Leadership Council serves as the leading trade organization for tourism, an industry with more than 22,000 employees and a $2 billion economic impact in the Savannah area. For more information about the organization, please visit www.tourismleadershipcouncil.com.

Critz Inc. held its grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting for the new Critz Buick/GMC facility at 7000 Abercorn St. on Wednesday.

Click here to view Spotted® photos

Members of the Critz family attended along with Mayor Edna Jackson, southeast regional representatives from Buick/GMC and representatives of the United Way of the Coastal Empire.

The event included special giveaway drawings including an iPad Mini and free Critz service. A contribution of $1,500 was made to United Way Hands On Savannah.

Critz Inc., which wells Buick, GMC, Mercedes-Benz, Sprinter and BMW, opened in 1938. For more information, go to www.critz.com.

Mock Plumbing wins award

Savannah-based Mock Plumbing and Mechanical Inc. was named outstanding subcontractor of 2012 by Turner Construction Co. for its role in the successful completion of Oglethorpe Charter School, a $21 million, 108,000-square-foot construction project.

Turner Construction, one of the largest general contractors in the nation, bases the annual award on key performance criteria such as safety, quality, project management, estimating and purchasing support.

W. H. “Billy” Mock, Jr., president, and Todd Rainwater, project manager, accepted the award during ceremonies held in Atlanta. Rainwater received special recognition for bringing the Oglethorpe project to a successful and timely completion.

“Turner Construction works with subcontractors all over the world, which means their benchmarks for outstanding performance are extremely high,” Mock said. “Under Todd Rainwater’s leadership and the expertise of mechanical superintendents Mike Smith and Chris Costley, Mock Plumbing delivered more than promised on this project, and that’s our goal on every job.”

Women in Construction Week observed

The Coastal Georgia chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction will take part in activities to recognize Women in Construction Week from March 6-9.

A kick-off social will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. March 6 at Fiddlers Crab House and Oyster Barn, 7201 Hodgson Memorial Drive with light appetizers and a cash bar. At 9 a.m. March 7, a job-site walk-through will be held by Young Contracting/SE at the new PetSmart structure at 1821 E. Victory Drive. As a community outreach effort with Union Mission’s Phoenix House, members will gather at 8 a.m. March 9 at 525 E. 34th St. to paint the interior of a home. Materials and tools will be provided.

For more information, contact Tonya Reed at 912-657-2406 or tonya.reed@henryplumbing.net.

St. Joseph’s gets accreditation as chest pain center

St. Joseph’s Hospital has received full accreditation as a Chest Pain Center with PCI from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

St. Joseph’s Hospital, part of the St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System, demonstrated a significant reduction in the time it takes to receive treatment for chest pain as well as accuracy and effectiveness of the treatment. The chest pain center at St. Joseph’s has met or exceeded stringent criteria and has undergone an on-site review by a team of accreditation review specialists.

“The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere — on land, at sea, or in the air — depended ultimately on its outcome.”

— Winston Churchill

The longest continuous military campaign of World War II, the six-year Battle of the Atlantic pitted German U-boats, battleships and aircraft against Allied ships and warplanes as the Germans attempted to establish a blockade that would keep merchant ships loaded with critical supplies from reaching Allied troops in Europe.

For a while, the Germans were successful, their speedy little U-boats picking off so many Allied supply ships that U.S. shipyards were quickly pressed into service building the wartime cargo freighters that came to be known as Liberty ships.

Savannah’s first Liberty ship — the SS James Oglethorpe — was still under construction at Southeastern Shipbuilding when Nick Craig graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., in the spring of 1942.

“I was in their first graduating class — a class that was accelerated from four years to less than three because they needed officers for all those ships they were building,” Craig said last week from his home at The Landings.

With little time to get his feet wet, Craig was assigned as third mate aboard the Liberty Ship SS Thomas Sumter, sailing out of New York harbor with $10 million in cargo.

“We had 100 jeeps, 20 armored cars and bomber fuselages without the wings,” he said.

In all, Craig made five trips across the Atlantic on four different Liberty ships — including the Savannah-built Samuel T. Darling — as he worked his way up from third mate to second mate, to chief mate and then captain.

With a front-row seat to the Battle of the Atlantic, Craig had more than his share of adventures and close calls.

He served as chief mate aboard the Liberty Ship Thomas Sim Lee as it traveled from England to Russia in one of two convoys of supply ships. Catching wind of the sailing, the Germans deployed the pride of their naval fleet, the heavy cruiser Scharnhorst, to disrupt the convoy.

The Scharnhorst set sail, unaware she was being lured into a carefully constructed British Royal Navy trap.

“Our convoys were used as bait, basically,” Craig said. “Of course, we didn’t know that.”

Surrounded, with escape cut off on all sides, the Scharnhorst was hit by a total of 11 torpedos and sunk, her wreckage not discovered until 2000.

Craig’s first command was on the Liberty Ship John Mason, sailing from Baltimore with 10,000 tons of high test explosives onboard.

“We were in a 35-ship convoy, stringing out in the Straits of Gibralter, when we were attacked,” he said. “Everyone was going every which way.

“I should have been petrified, but, back then, I didn’t have time to think about it. I put the crew up on deck and put in in the Bay of Bizerte, where we were attacked nightly by German bombers.”

On his second voyage on the Thomas Sumter, Craig and his crew discovered two large cracks in the ship’s hull and had to put in in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for repairs.

“Liberty ships were built in pieces and then welded together, and these cracks were places the welds didn’t hold,” he said.

After leaving Halifax, the Sumter set out to join another convoy heading across the Atlantic.

“At that time, the German U-boats were hunting in what they called wolf packs,” he said. “The convoy was moving in two columns and I was standing on deck when a torpedo came across our bow and hit the ship next to us.”

After the war, Craig said, he was called in and told — because the fleet was returning to pre-war fleet size — there wouldn’t be a ship available for him to captain.

“Having come in right out of the academy, I didn’t have much seniority,” he said. “So I left the merchant marine and opened my own business.”

It’s a decision he hasn’t regretted.

Being at sea doesn’t leave you much time for a family life,” he said.

A lifelong golfer, the twice-widowed Maine native eventually retired to The Landings in Savannah, where he divides his time between the links and his daughters and grandchildren.

Reminders of his days as a mariner — including a world map with pins that chart his Liberty ship voyages — fill his home office. In his family room, an empty spot on the fireplace mantel represents the Liberty ship model he has placed on loan to the Savannah Maritime Trade and Convention Center.

Looking back on his time in service to the war effort, Craig said he realizes how lucky he was to come through unscathed.

In all, nearly 3,000 ships were lost.

“The casualty rate in the Battle of the Atlantic was staggering, with merchant mariners suffering the highest rate of any service.” he said. “But it was important to the eventual Allied victory, and I’m happy to have done my part.”

Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.

SHIPPING SCHEDULE

These are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean Terminals in the next week. Sailing schedules are provided by Georgia Ports Authority and are subject to change.

Terminal Ship name Arrival

GCT MSC EMMA Today

GCT LONDON EXPRESS Today

GCT MSC MARINA Today

GCT PRESIDENT ADAMS Today

GCT MAERSK IDAHO Today

GCT ZIM CALIFORNIA Today

GCT HOECHST EXPRESS Today

GCT ABU DHABI Today

OT ENDURANCE Today

OT SCARLETT Today

GCT MSC MICHAELA Saturday

GCT EVER DEVELOP Saturday

GCT CMA CGM L’ETOILE Saturday

GCT CMA CGM DON CARLOS Saturday

GCT MSC TOKYO Saturday

GCT SEASPAN HAMBURG Saturday

GCT OOCL HONG KONG Saturday

GCT YORKTOWN EXPRESS Saturday

GCT JO KASHI Saturday

OT PIPIT ARROW Saturday

GCT YM ENHANCER Sunday

GCT MARE ATLANTICUM Sunday

GCT ROME EXPRESS Monday

GCT ATHENA Monday

GCT ZIM PIRAEUS Monday

GCT NYK RIGEL Monday

GCT MOL EXPEDITOR Tuesday

GCT CAFER DEDE Tuesday

GCT MAERSK DANBURY Tuesday

GCT MSC MAEVA Tuesday

GCT ZIM TARRAGONA Tuesday

GCT CGM UTRILLO Tuesday

GCT GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Tuesday

GCT HANJIN SHANGHAI Tuesday

OT TYSLA Tuesday

GCT SEA-LAND RACER Wednesday

GCT MOL ADVANTAGE Wednesday

GCT OAKLAND EXPRESS Wednesday

GCT CONRAD S Wednesday

GCT CLIPPER LEGACY Wednesday

OT SPUIGRACHT Wednesday .

GCT MAERSK ROUBAIX Thursday

GCT CMA CGM CORAL Thursday

GCT UASC JEDDAH Thursday

GCT ZIM BARCELONA Thursday

GCT MSC BARCELONA Thursday

GCT DALLAS EXPRESS Thursday

GCT APL OMAN Thursday

Matson Logistics, a leading provider of logistics services throughout North America, has leased new distribution center space in West Chatham County.

The company has contracted for 65,000 square feet on Norwest Court in Pooler, with the ability to increase to 125,000 square feet.

“Our new operation expands on our ability to move retail goods in through the Port of Savannah,” said Mark Ferzacca, assistant vice president of sales for Matson Logistics Warehousing. “More companies are using East Coast distribution centers to have their product closer to a rapidly growing regional market.”

The new Matson acquisition follows a September expansion of its Bryan County operation, which added 237,600 square feet to its previous 135,000-square-foot facility, and is in addition to two existing Pooler buildings with more than 1.1 million square feet.

The latest development is located within the building designated as Savannah D. The distribution center is less than two miles from Interstate 95, 10 miles from Interstate 16 and within eight miles of the Port of Savannah.

The property features a total of 125,000 square feet of space, a clearance of 32 feet and 65 truck bays.

“Matson’s decision to expand its East Coast distribution center space in Savannah will provide its customers cost-effective and reliable access to 44 percent of the U.S. population,” said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz.

The Port of Savannah forms a distribution center hub, with more than 4 million square feet of local warehouse space available, with an occupancy rate greater than 88 percent. There are 102 distribution centers across Georgia that are 500,000 square feet or larger, he said, adding that using Georgia’s deepwater ports to deliver goods much closer to Eastern U.S. markets cuts the cost of ground transportation.

Ferzacca agreed.

“Our new Savannah distribution center, with its strategic location and room for expansion, directly aligns with the demands of a growing regional population,” he said.

When companies decide to distribute goods from Georgia, it supports jobs in the logistics industry and beyond and makes good business sense for the company, said GPA Board Chairman Robert Jepson.

“The Port of Savannah’s location as the most westerly of the Atlantic Coast ports makes it the gateway of choice for markets such as Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Louisville, Charlotte and beyond,” Jepson said.

ABOUT MATSON

Matson Logistics is a leading provider of multimodal transportation, warehousing and distribution services throughout North America. For more information, go to www.matson.com.

Keith Fauvie is not your typical snowbird retiree, content to move to Savannah and put his energies into golf, boating or beachcombing.

He’s running his own charter airline.

Fauvie and his wife, Candice, decided to start KC Chartaire soon after relocating to Savannah from Atlanta three years ago. Now they’re ready to get the business “off the ground” and will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the Sheltair Aviation terminal. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 11 a.m.

“When I decided to retire, my wife demanded I start something like this,” Fauvie said, “because otherwise I’d drive her crazy.”

Fauvie can fly as many as seven passengers in his Rockwell Turbo Commander 690B. The propeller plane has a range of 1,000 miles and can fly as high as 31,000 feet at a maximum speed of 265 knots, or 305 mph.

The airline services Canada and the Continental United State. Fauvie plans to add the Bahamas and the Caribbean soon.

Fauvie is a retired commercial airline pilot. He captained planes for a United Airlines subsidiary for 10 and a half years. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as an air-traffic controller.

His experience in both the tower and the cockpit means “everybody feels safe,” said Candice, a retired flight attendant.

Savannah is an underserved market with plenty of potential, the Fauvies said. KC Chartaire is the only Savannah-based charter airline, in fact. Charter companies will run flights out of Savannah but bring the planes in from other airports, like Augusta or Charleston.

“Having an operator here is a boost to the general aviation makeup in Savannah,” said Gary Murkowski, general manager of the Sheltair Aviation terminal.

The Fauvies are targeting both business and pleasure customers, as well as cargo. Daytrips ferrying multiple employees of a company to cities like Atlanta for a business meeting is a major potential source of business. Guys’ golf trips or girls’ shopping trips are also possibilities. The Fauvies received inquiries last fall from Savannah Georgia Bulldogs fans looking to fly to Athens on game day.

“What you’re paying for is convenience — you don’t have to deal with the airport hassles and we operate on the passengers’ schedule,” Keith Fauvie said. “And if you have to fly five or six people someplace, a charter can actually make sense economically.”

IF YOU GO

KC Chartaire Open House

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday

Sheltair Aviation terminal

100 Eddie Jungemann Drive

* Ceremonial ribbon-cutting to be held at 11 a.m.

There is that phrase again, reminding us of some of the excesses of our free market system that we would like to minimize going forward.

“Merger mania” has cropped up all over the news over the last few weeks. Most prominently, this has been connected to the announcements of three multi-billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions: Office Depot and Office Max ($1.2 billion), U.S. Airways and American Airlines (more than $10 billion) and the purchase of H.J. Heinz Company by Berkshire Hattaway/3G Capital ($23 billion).

So, those who were wondering what all those non-invested corporate cash reserves sitting on the sidelines would be utilized for, here is one answer: buying sprees. A widely reported number based on Federal Reserve data puts the amount of non-financial sector corporate cash-reserves at a staggering $1.7 trillion for the U.S.

On its face, there is, of course, nothing wrong with any trade that involves a willing buyer and a willing seller (and contented shareholders in the background), even if the magnitude of the transaction is far beyond your last trip to the grocery store. However, two questions should be considered before buying into the mania (pun intended).

The first is concerned with whether these mergers or mega-purchases actually result in all those cost-savings and consumer friendly outcomes that starry-eyed CEOs like to tout. The evidence on that is mixed.

The second question relates to what impact any given merger has on competition and, therefore, on consumer prices. Of course, we rely on two government entities — the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department — and their published Merger Guidelines (http://1.usa.gov/93BO8M) to make sure any merger is not going to result in undue harm to consumers.

That is one of the reasons why a federal district court, more than 15 years ago, granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Staples-Office Depot merger (some of the FTC’s arguments are summarized at http://1.usa.gov/1203Fl7). The prospects of the current office supply romance between “Office Depot” and “Office Max” depend on whether market conditions have changed sufficiently.

The likely answer is “yes.” The competition landscape has changed considerably in this market over the last decade. Anybody who has purchased office supplies from Wal-Mart or ordered them from Amazon can attest to that.

As one economist (who was deeply involved in the earlier case) told me this week, given their current business outlook, the companies may have a good case for making a “failing firm” argument. In that case, the assertion is that prices may go up because of less competition, but they would do so anyway if one or both firms were to go out of business.

That argument seems certainly reasonable for the office supply market, and not at all out of place in the airline industry, where bankruptcy filings and resulting consolidation have proceeded at, well, the speed of a jet plane.

In a sense, consumers had gotten a free ride while investors paid the bill. Unfortunately, those “good old days” are coming to an end.

Consumer protection can only go so far. At the end of the day, there have to be businesses around that make enough profit for consumers to be able to purchase products in the first place.

Some mergers may just be necessary to ensure this is the case.

Dr. Michael Reksulak teaches economics and public finance in Georgia Southern University’s College of Business Administration. He may be reached by email at mreksula@georgiasouthern.edu.