U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (left) visited the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo and officially commissioned Cal Maritime’s newly-appointed president Thomas Cropper as a Rear Admiral in the United States Maritime Service. Photo courtesy of CA Maritime Academy
By Patrick Burnson
Published: November, 2012
In a move that many shippers found upsetting, the state 1st District Court of Appeal ordered a temporary stay of a Superior Court ruling last month that required the disclosure of documents regarding the assignments, working hours and rest period violations of state-licensed pilots in the San Francisco Bay. The stay was requested by the Board of Pilot Commissioners and the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association.
"We are perplexed by this appeal, where the state agency which is tasked with regulating and providing oversight of state licensed pilots continues to fight public access to pilot assignment data and, amazingly, actually argues that the state itself is powerless to acquire it," said Mike Jacob, Vice President of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.
The case is Pacific Merchant Shipping Assoc. v. Board of Pilot Commissioners, et al., San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CPF12512320. Order Filed September 18, 2012. The Order and entire Superior Court case file is available via Case Query at http://sfsuperiorcourt.org/online-services.
"The Court ruling affirmed the public’s right to know when state-licensed pilots are improperly assigned to ships, violate their minimum rest period standards, and when they are or are not actually working a ship," said Jacob.
The Board argued unsuccessfully to the Superior Court that the records sought by the shipping industry did not qualify as public records because the Bar Pilots are not a state agency.
LaHood Visits Cal Maritime
Campus
On a lighter note, last month came news that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visited the California Maritime Academy campus.
During his visit, Secretary LaHood officially commissioned Cal Maritime’s newly-appointed president Thomas Cropper as a Rear Admiral in the United States Maritime Service. While on campus LaHood also addressed the cadets and toured the Training Ship Golden Bear. Highlights during the ship tour included a demonstration of the ship’s ballast water treatment testing facility and a visit to the onboard navigation lab.
Secretary LaHood was joined by Maritime Administrator David Matsuda, who provided remarks during the commissioning ceremony of President Cropper and accompanied Secretary LaHood during the campus and ship visit.
Matson Measures Growth
David Hoppes, Matson’s senior vice president for ocean services told Working Waterfront that the recent separation of Matson from its corporate parent, Alexander & Baldwin, was designed to provide a number of benefits for both Matson and A&B.
Here are the talking points made by Hoppes:
Enhanced Focus: Each company is now large enough to independently establish strategic priorities, growth strategies and financial objectives, and allocate capital in a manner that is best tailored to each business. Moreover, the Board and management of each company will be able to focus exclusively on the operation of its own business.
Sector-Specific Investors: Each company will appeal to a more focused shareholder base that is attracted to the particular business profile of that company and the specific industries in which it operates.
Separate Stock: Each company will have its own separate stock, which can be used to facilitate acquisition opportunities.
Greater Transparency: The proposed separation will allow for greater visibility into relative financial and operating performance.
Expanded Research Coverage: Each company expects to attract additional research coverage by industry-specific analysts, providing the public and investment community with more information and perspectives on the two companies.
Hoppes also pointed out that Alexander & Baldwin always ran Matson as an independent business, such that the Matson group had its own finance, legal, information technology, accounting, insurance. "They operated us much like a portfolio company, and so the separation, while momentous from a historic point of view, from an operational perspective was a fairly straightforward matter," Hoppes said. "For example, we have only had to hire five or six people at the Matson level in order to operate as an independent company, which is very small relative to our overall headcount. So, in some ways, because of A&B’s operating approach, Matson has been running autonomously for many, many years."
