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International Auto Processing at the Port of Brunswick celebrated its 5 millionth vehicle at Colonel’s Island Terminal last week as the silver Hyundai Genesis rolled down the ramp of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen carrier ship Isolde.
Curtis Foltz, Georgia Ports Authority executive director, congratulated the company, which is a longtime GPA partner at the south Georgia port.
“This important milestone exemplifies IAP’s reliability and the trust automakers have in their service,” Foltz said.
International Auto Processing began its Colonel’s Island operation in 1986 with its first shipment of 567 Yugos — all in red.
“Over the years, more and more carmakers have seen the value in using Colonel’s Island as a gateway to the southeastern U.S. market, helping IAP and the Port of Brunswick achieve phenomenal growth over three decades,” said Robert Miller, AIP president and CEO.
AIP has grown in Brunswick to employ 250 full-time workers and up to 100 more in flexible staffing, serving Audi, Bentley, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen.
IAP’s facility on Colonel’s Island serves as an extension of the factory floor, performing quality checks, installing accessories and preparing vehicles for transportation to dealers.
In 2014, the company handled more than 450,000 vehicles, most of them delivered to the six-state southeast area, Miller said. Imports arrive from Europe, Asia and Mexico.
Exports, which account for about a third of the vehicles IAP processes, are manufactured in the U.S. and shipped to Europe and Asia as well as Central and South America.
Since the inception of the Brunswick autoport, three other auto processors — AMPORTS, Atlantic Vehicle Processors and Mercedes-Benz USA — have set up shop on Colonel’s Island. In fiscal 2014, which ended June 30, the four companies moved 674,327 vehicles, up more than 8 percent over fiscal 2013. Includ
ing the roll-on/roll-off volume at Savannah’s Ocean Terminal, GPA moved more than 700,700 units.
Georgia Ports now ranks as the busiest in the nation for the import of new cars and the No. 2 port in total import-export auto trade.
Trouble brewing on West Coast
Rumors were flying mid-week that contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association were on the verge of collapsing, potentially shutting down container-handling terminals up and down the West Coast.
Maritime association CEO James McKenna then took the unusual step of conducting a teleconference to release details of management’s contract offer to the union.
That offer, according to a report in the Journal of Commerce late Wednesday, included “a surprising agreement by employers to continue paying 100 percent of dockworkers’ medical costs, including the Cadillac tax under Obamacare.”
Responding for the union, ILWU president Robert McEllrath told the JOC an agreement was “extremely close.”
No one wants a shutdown, McKenna said, and he highlighted the urgency of the situation.
With the ports at the point of gridlock and most vessels in the trans-Pacific trades stuck on the West Coast, the system will soon shut down.
Savannah-based DJ Powers, a freight forwarder, customs brokerage and logistics firm with offices in nine cities including Atlanta, Rotterdam and Shanghai, advised clients Wednesday that a “total shutdown of container handling terminals on the U.S. West coast is imminent and could start as early as the end of this week.”
The company quoted a report that stated unless there is a sudden change of heart by the ILWU as to their demands, “exporters and importers should plan on ports shutting down up and down the West Coast by the end of this week.”
Earlier this week, the Journal of Commerce reported that the U.S. Congress is stepping up its pressure on the two sides to reach a “swift resolution” to the contract negotiations. Eighty-four U.S. House members signed a letter citing a report last year by the National Retail Federation and National Association of Manufacturers estimating that a 10-day shutdown of West Coast ports would cost the economy more than $21 billion.
Even without a port shutdown, companies are incurring costs and lost sales from delays at the ports, the magazine reported.
“Retailers and manufacturers have had to reroute shipments, and agricultural exporters say they’re being shut out of overseas markets,” Joseph Bonney, senior editor at the JOC, wrote Monday.
“Meat and poultry producer Tyson Foods said last week that the delays are affecting export supply chains and soon could be felt by livestock producers,” Bonney added.
“A west coast port shutdown would be an economic disaster,” said Kelly Kolb, vice president of government affairs for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
“A shutdown would not only impact the hundreds of thousands of jobs working directly in America’s transportation supply chain, but the reality is the entire economy would be impacted as exports sit on docks and imports sit in the harbor waiting for manufacturers to build products and retailers to stock shelves.” she said.
GPA’s Foltz agreed.
“Our economy is dependant on west coast ports, particularly the Southern California ports,” he said. “The fact is that all the other ports in the country, taken collectively, couldn’t absorb the volumes that come through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach alone. We as a nation can’t afford the economic disruption a prolonged shutout would bring.
“We certainly hope this issue is resolved as quickly as possible.”
The last prolonged port shutdown on the West Coast was the 10-day lockout in 2002, which was estimated to cost the U.S. economy close to $10 billion, a number that would more than double today, according to estimates.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
INFO BOX
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT MAERSK KOKURA Today
GCT ISLANDIA Today
GCT MSC SILVANA Today
GCT NYK DELPHINUS Today
GCT MSC INGRID Today
GCT MSC VANESSA Today
GCT MAERSK KURE Today
GCT MAERSK PITTSBURGH Today
GCT CMA CGM AUCKLAND Saturday
GCT APL LATVIA Saturday
OT TITANIA Saturday
OT ELLIE Saturday
OT BBC MAPLE LOTTA Saturday
GCT APL QATAR Sunday
GCT HANJIN DALLAS Sunday
GCT NYK METEOR Sunday
GCT CSCL MELBOURNE Sunday
GCT NYK NEBULA Sunday
OT SAFMARINE SUGUTA Sunday
GCT VEGA Monday
GCT HYUNDAI GLORY Monday
GCT CORCOVADO Monday
GCT SAIGON EXPRESS Monday
GCT AL ABDALI Monday
GCT YM GREAT Monday
GCT MSC ILONA Tuesday
GCT ZIM TARRAGONA Tuesday
GCT MSC CAROLINA Tuesday
GCT ST LOUIS EXPRESS Tuesday
GCT ALLISE P Tuesday
GCT SEALAND ILLINOIS Tuesday
GCT CONRAD S Wednesday
GCT SEA LAND MERCURY Wednesday
GCT DALIAN EXPRESS Wednesday
OT UNIVERSAL BARCELONA Wednesday
GCT ZIM NEW YORK Thursday
GCT KAAN KALKAVAN Thursday
GCT MOL MARVEL Thursday
GCT SINGAPORE BRIDGE Thursday
GCT ANNA SCHEPERS Thursday
GCT NYK REMUS Thursday