With no shipping having taken place so far this year, the Eastport Port Authority is facing a number of changes, as its longtime leader is leaving, wood pulp shipments are switching from overseas to domestic markets and the potentially large wood chip shipments to Europe continue to be paused.
      Chris Gardner, the port authority's executive director, moved to part-time employment status in July as he prepares to transition out of the job by the end of the year. He has accepted a position with the engineering firm of Player Design Inc. (PDI) of Presque Isle, which constructed the wood chip phytosanitation equipment for the port authority, and began working for the company the first week of July.
      Gardner has been the port authority's executive director since 2007, and he says he "agonized" over the decision to leave. "It's been the best job in the world for the past 16 years," he says, but he notes that the job with PDI "is a great opportunity for me," adding that Player Design "is a growing company here in Maine."
      Gardner comments, "I'm leaving the port authority in a much better place than I found it. We're seeing some good things happening, with the new crane and barge shipments. It's a looking-up year for the port. I'm comfortable it will be in very good hands."
      At the June 28 meeting of the port authority board, the board and Gardner agreed, following an executive session, to have his salary cut by half and to eliminate his health insurance benefits for the remainder of the year. He had been receiving $89,000 a year, which had been reduced by 10% earlier this year as the port authority tried to contain the fallout from not having any shipments through the port so far this year. For the second half of the year he will receive $20,000.
      The port authority board expects to begin the hiring process for a new executive director in September.

Pause continues on wood chip test
     As for the long-delayed trial wood chip shipment to test the port authority's phytosanitation equipment, Gardner outlined to the board the funding streams for the project and summarized that the cost to perform the first test shipment would be $820,000. Because the wood chip shipments are supposed to be for 40,000 to 50,000 tons at a time, and the test shipment would be for 5,000 tons, the port authority would have to subsidize the trial to prove that it works. The port authority could be facing revolving debt costs of between $600,000 to $800,000 for the trial shipment if it's not successful. However, if the trial meets the U.S. Department of Agriculture's phytosanitation requirements, then expenditures would be "paid back almost immediately," as it could lead to regular shipments of 40,000 tons a month to the United Kingdom. Because Player Design has not been paid for all of its contracts with the port authority for the phytosanitation equipment, Gardner, who will be working for PDI, stepped back from some of the discussion on the issue.
      Following the presentation, board member Earl Small stated, "There's no income coming in now, so I'm not in favor of borrowing money." He added, "If we were shipping 300,000 tons, we would go ahead." Commenting that "we're barely hanging on," he noted that if the port authority fails "any debt will come to the taxpayers of Eastport." Other board members were in agreement, and the board decided to pause on the trial wood chip shipment until the port authority is in a better financial position.

Barge shipments
     The mobile harbor crane that the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) is arranging to have moved from the Port of Portland to Eastport is expected to arrive at the port around July 24. The crane will be used to load wood pulp from the Woodland Pulp mill onto barges for shipments to ports on the East Coast. The new domestic shipments of 5,000 tons a month may begin in August. There have been no overseas wood pulp shipments through the port since last November, and it's not known when they will resume.

Tugboat deal
     The port authority is finalizing a deal with McAllister Towing and Transportation Company to purchase the tugboat Ahoskie and possibly the Abaco. McAllister will be taking over from the port authority the tugboat operations for ships coming to the port and will be relocating some of its tugs to Eastport as needed. Gardner notes that while the port authority's tugboat operations had become "cash positive" in recent years, there have been fewer ships, and the tug income is based on an amount per vessel. Also, the Coast Guard's subchapter M inspection requirements for tugs have made the operations much more expensive, as the tugs have to be drydocked more often for inspection. The Ahoskie did recently clear its certificate of inspection for the subchapter M requirements, which allowed for the McAllister deal to proceed.
     Gardner says, "It's been a struggle how we can operate a good tug service going forward." He notes that McAllister has been a good partner with the port authority and has a much larger fleet of tugs. The port authority's tugboat captain, Charlie Leppin, will work for McAllister.

Cruise ship visits
      Chris Brown and Gardner attended the Cruise Canada New England Symposium in Portland from June 13 through 15 and have started finalizing details for transporting cruise ship passengers from Eastport to the Roosevelt Campobello International Park (RCIP), which Pearl Seas Cruises is interested in for its passengers. The cruise ship passengers would be ferried by boat from Eastport to Lubec and then would cross to Campobello by bus. The park would extend its season and would be open from April through October, and the Pearl Seas cruise ships would stay in Eastport for a longer period. Smaller, higher-end cruise lines would like to be able to visit the park, and Gardner stated, "Roosevelt park can be for us what Acadia National Park is for Bar Harbor." Silversea Cruises, which has vessels in the 600- to 700-foot range that carry 400 passengers, also is interested in coming to Eastport.
      As for the port authority's bus that had been given to the Eastport school department, it was determined that it would need maintenance work costing from $12,000 to $15,000 in order to pass inspection. The school department is now backing out of accepting the bus, and Gardner proposed that the port authority have it repaired and then give it to the school department, which would provide insurance. The board approved having the bus repaired, for a cost not to exceed $15,000. It would be used for transporting the cruise ship passengers to the park.

Other business
     Because of concerns that have been brought to the port authority about possible risks posed by the electrical panel on the fish pier, Gardner proposed closing the pier to the public. Instead of closing the gate at the entrance, though, it was decided to post a sign that the pier is only to be accessed by commercial fishermen and harbor users.
      The fish pier redesign contract between Childs Engineering Corporation and the Maine Department of Transportation has been signed. The contract is for the planning and engineering that would then be used to seek funding for the actual rehabilitation.
      The sinkhole on the breakwater has been repaired, and new trench covers have been installed.