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PDF TOTE News Summer/Fall 2011

PDF TOTE News Summer/Fall 2010

TOTE News Summer & Fall 2011

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Our Employees Are Making Good Decisions in Response to Continuing Economic Challenges

If your company has good employees making good decisions, you’re going to be successful. Make sure they have the best information, and support them in the decision-making process. They won’t always be right, but the net result will be positive. Yes, even wildly successful.

That’s the way we try to operate at TOTE, and here’s a great example of how it has been working for us lately:

It’s no secret that times continue to be tough in our industry, and that the economic slowdown is having an impact on Alaska. When in reaction to this slowdown we looked at the numbers with an eye towards reducing expenses, we learned that every single department at TOTE had already reacted.

Without a mandate but armed with the knowledge of the weekly, monthly trends, $1 million in expenses had been trimmed from the organization. Our managers had seen on their own that things didn’t look good, and they tightened up. Maybe they sent one less employee to training, or maybe they held back on buying something they didn’t really need. In any case, they acted as leaders, reacting to changes in the environment while not degrading the service we offer our customers.

Not all is grim. Looking through the articles in this issue of TOTE News – covering such things as our rain gardens in Tacoma, our successful drydockings, and our new insulated trailers – it’s easy to see that we continue to tweak the system and find ways to do things better in spite of our economic challenges.

We started the year welcoming Alta Logistics into the TOTE family. Alta, which has its roots in our sister company Northern Air Cargo, provides freight forwarding services in Alaska and brings a whole suite of skills to our sea chest that we can now offer our customers.

We end the first half of 2011 with a new sister company, Interstate Distributor Co. With a culture built around dedicated and proud employees who know their business, as well as a long history of being part of the economic fabric in Pierce County, Interstate’s similarities to TOTE are startling. Our customer bases are similar but operate in different lanes. Interstate is a full-service trucking company focusing on the I-5 corridor, while we operate in the Alaska corridor. Each company is proud of its niche and comfortable with its area of operation.

Over the last few months, a team led by Phil Morrell, our tenacious VP of Marine, has “quietly” been taking a hard look at ways to use our two vessels in layup to expand our services offerings. based on their report, we have decided not to move forward, but the knowledge base we have gained is nothing short of unbelievable. The cross-functional team also included Jeff Tobin, Julie Sanchez, Daniele Moreni, John Armstrong, Phil bates, and Rich Griffith. I’d like to publicly thank them for their enthusiasm and effort on this project. Now, it’s back to the salt mines.

Once again our sole reason for being here is to provide services to our customers, and all the good things we do are in support of that goal. I would like to thank all of them, and sticking with a theme here, I would ask them to thank their employees as well. Hopefully this note finds our customers and their crews in good health and enjoying a much-deserved summer.

John D. Parrott
President

Company News

TOTE and Other Ocean Carriers Help Weather Forecasters Around the World

On any given day, volunteer crew members on nearly 1,000 ships around the world observe the weather at their locations, encode each observation in a standard format, and send the data over a satellite or radio to national weather services with responsibility for marine weather forecasts.

In the United States, the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Project services about one quarter of the world’s observing fleet. TOTE ships have been participating in the program for many years.

“The weather service doesn’t know what’s going on at sea, except through satellite observations, and even then they can’t see what’s going on the surface,” said Bill Taylor, TOTE’s electronics maintenance engineer. “There are ships crisscrossing the ocean all the time, so they enlist the crews to make observations for them.” He said certain ships are “very proud” of their participation in the VOS Project, including TOTE ships, and the MV Midnight Sun has traditionally been near the top participants in this region in the number of reports provided.

Ship’s watch officers generally send three reports per day to the national Weather service via a free satellite connection. The information includes temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, barometer reading, rate of change of the barometer reading, wind speed and direction, sea conditions and water temperature, if available.

The National Weather Service provides a barometer and recording barometer and visits ships periodically to calibrate the instruments. They also provide the forms used to transmit the data.

“I think it’s very important for the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) guys,” Taylor said. “It’s a huge help to them, and for us, the program ensures a better forecast for tomorrow.”

Huge Shipment from Alaska is a Milestone in Long Relationship Between TOTE and Military

Challenged by temperatures that dropped to 36 degrees below zero and facing a tight timetable, TOTE supervisors, managers, and directors spent the week before Christmas of 2010 loading military cargo at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska. The weather conditions were beyond brutal but TOTE employees persevered; ensuring that each and every piece of cargo made it to its final destination.

It was by far the largest shipment of Alaskan military cargo ever handled by the company – 1,609 pieces including Strykers, Humvees, containers and other equipment for the 1-25th Stryker brigade. The brigade originated from Fort Wainwright, Alaska and was headed to Fort Irwin on Southern California’s Mojave desert for training exercises that will ultimately prepare it to join our troops in Afghanistan. Recognizing the importance of this mission, TOTE employees worked long hours to ensure the success of this critical project. John Armstrong, an employee of TOTE’s for over 15 years and Director of Customer Support Services, oversaw day-to-day operations. He spent long hours communicating with fellow employees to assure that each task was completed correctly.

TOTE has a great working relationship with the military. Totem Ocean Trailer Express has considerable experience transporting military cargo but nothing of this magnitude has ever been undertaken. “Usually the deployment shipments are between 900 and 1,000 and have been as high as 1,300 for these training relocations, but never 1,600,” said Glemious Jackson-Chatters, TOTE’s military and government services manager. “It was a very demanding job due its size and time constraints. Every piece of cargo had to be at Fort Irwin by no later than February 6.”

TOTE finished the job on time, safely, and with no damage. The job was the latest in a long and continuing relationship between TOTE and the military. With five Army and Air Force bases in Alaska, TOTE handles a nearly constant flow of cargo for the military between the North Country and the lower 48. The Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (sddc) is among TOTE’s top customers and has been for over 25 years.

“TOTE is the most efficient carrier in dealing with exercises, deployments, and redeployments for the military due to our expertise and experience in moving military freight,” Glemious Jackson-Chatters said. “And our ships can accommodate any type of cargo.”

Claudia Roberts, Director of Government Services, added, “Operationally, we are very flexible, fast, consistent, and on time, and our customer service is key.”

In the recent training move for the 1-25th Stryker brigade, Alaska director George Lowery, Anchorage terminal operations manager Mike Thrasher, and operations supervisor Chad Baskett were on the ground at Fort Wainwright supervising loading operations in the bitter cold. Required to wear hand and feet warmers just to tolerate the extreme conditions, they never complained; instead choosing to make the best of a challenging situation. Some of the freight went by truck, while the rolling stock went by rail to Anchorage for loading on TOTE ships for the trip to Tacoma. Because the ships also were carrying commercial cargo, five sailings were required to accommodate the military cargo.

In Tacoma, terminal manager Dale Westerlin and project logistics operations manager Bill King were responsible for loading 596 containers and 40 break-bulk pieces onto flatbeds for the next leg of the trip, which was to Fort Irwin. The Seattle-based 833rd Transportation Battalion moved the remaining break-bulk cargo to Fort Irwin as well as the sensitive containers. With their help, the project was completed smoothly and was certainly successful. Receiving the cargo at Fort Irwin were Glemious Jackson-Chatters and account representative Noelle Orvella, who have a combined experience of thirty-plus years and are both valuable members of the TOTE team. They logged long hours to ensure the cargo was correct and damage-free. After the training exercises, TOTE also oversaw the loading and return of 365 pieces from Fort Irwin to Fort Wainwright. Glemious Jackson-Chatters added, “TOTE regularly moves rolling stock and containers of equipment to and from Alaska from all over the Lower 48 - often one and two pieces at a time but running up to about 40 pieces.”

TOTE also has a contract to supply commissaries, base exchanges, and various other destinations at the bases from two California distribution centers, Tracy and French Camp, both near Stockton.

In addition to the stateside operations, TOTE also has international ventures. Claudia Roberts oversees a separate segment of TOTE’s military business, chartering the Ponce class ships SS Great Land and SS Westward Venture, which have been carrying military cargo to and from the Middle East since 2003.

“They’re great little pickup trucks for the military cargo,” she said. “They load and offload fast, and they’re fast on the water. In 2003, we loaded a marine brigade in San Diego, and although our ship wasn’t the first to leave, it was the first to arrive in Kuwait because it was the fastest.”

“As an organization, TOTE has a lot of respect for the military,” Glemious Jackson-Chatters said. “It has been a privilege and an honor to work with the military for TOTE the last 30 years and we look forward to the next 30 years.” Said Claudia Roberts, “On the international side, it’s always an honor to support the war fighters.”

Improved Truck and Car Sales, Spring Thaw Drive Spike in TOTE’s Vehicle Business

The improved health of the U.S. auto manufacturing industry, combined with the regular springtime rush for shipping cars and trucks to Alaska, has TOTE preparing for a busy season in the vehicle segment of its business.

“Chrysler and General Motors are among TOTE’s largest vehicle shippers, and it’s no secret that they are selling more cars and trucks, which we are benefiting from in the Alaska market,” said Bill Crawford, TOTE Lower 48 sales manager. “We had a dip in 2009, but saw a modest rebound in 2010 and look forward to continued growth back to more normal historical levels in 2011.”

TOTE moves thousands of cars and trucks each year between Tacoma and Anchorage on its two Orca class ships. About 65 percent of those are new vehicles, with the rest being personally owned vehicles, or POVs. Many recreational vehicles (RVs), travel trailers, and boats also move this time of year as people get ready for the summer season.

Several factors give TOTE a competitive edge in the vehicle business, according to Crawford.

• The Tacoma terminal has a dedicated gate for trucks hauling in new vehicles. Having a separate terminal entrance enables auto customers to get in, unload their vehicles, and exit the terminal quickly.
• While waiting to be loaded in Tacoma, vehicles are stowed in a dedicated space at the terminal, separating them from trailers and improving handling efficiency. The Anchorage terminal also has a dedicated yard space for vehicles.
• Longshoremen drive the vehicles onto the ship and into one of three weather-tight holds. The combined capacity of these vehicle holds is about 300 units. “There’s no chance of any water getting on these vehicles and causing corrosion,” Crawford said.
• The vehicles are lashed to the deck and no parts have to be removed from them, making TOTE’s operation extremely flexible in the types and sizes of vehicles, boats, and RVs it can haul.
• TOTE’s vehicle damage ratio consistently measures below one percent, making it the most efficient and safest way to transport vehicles in the Alaska trade. Crawford said there is always a spike in the vehicle business that starts when Alaska begins to thaw out in March and Alaskans get out and start buying. An even bigger reason for the spike is a rush to ship new cars to rental agencies that cater to tourists.

“Then right after Labor Day, those vehicles will be sold at auction in Anchorage or will be shipped back south to be auctioned or repositioned in the Lower 48,” Crawford said.

This is No Place for Amateurs.

Between Tacoma and Anchorage, in the Gulf of Alaska, there are 1,440 nautical miles of ice, high seas, heavy storms and fog to contend with. And that’s before we start unloading our ships in sub-zero conditions. Which is why you need the experience of a 35-year expert, with vessels specially built to handle the rigors of Alaska.
Meeting the unique demands of Alaska is only part of our business.
Meeting yours is everything else.

Filmed in Alaska: Movie Industry is Giving State Economy a Big Boost

Hollywood filmmakers are discovering Alaska, bringing significant economic impact by delivering dollars and jobs to the state as well as new business for TOTE and other companies.

Long a popular venue for reality television shows like "Deadliest Catch," Alaska is now attracting full-blown feature films. "Everybody Loves Whales," a movie starring Drew Barrymore, finished filming in the state early this year. “That meant 36 trailers for us northbound and 33 southbound,” said Caroline Higgins, project and integrated logistics manager for TOTE in Anchorage. “Where TOTE is a good fit is for the big production trailers, cook shacks and all the equipment they bring up from Southern California.

“We’re roll-on, roll-off, and there’s no way they’re going to get their equipment to Alaska faster,” she added.

Close on the heels of "Everybody Loves Whales" was the filming of "Ghost Vision," a thriller starring John Voight as an Anchorage police officer. Several others reportedly are in the pipeline and all are expected to generate cargo for TOTE.

A recent economic impact study released by the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation estimates that "Everybody Loves Whales" had a $16.5 million impact on the state economy and credits the film with employing more than 1,300 Alaskans.

Movie producers are attracted to the state by an incentive package passed by the state legislature in 2008 that provides transferrable tax credits of up to 44 percent of what they spend in Alaska.

“Because these producers typically don’t have any Alaska tax liability, they sell their tax credits to companies that do have liability,” said Dave Worrell, manager of the Alaska Film Office, which is part of the state department of commerce, community and economic development. The credits generally sell at a discount to Alaskan companies.

“Over the last 20 years, a lot of movies were set in Alaska but filmed elsewhere,” Worrell said. “Now we’re seeing a dramatic increase in interest in Alaska as a location both for non-fiction and feature films.” Higgins said dealing with filmmakers has been a learning experience.

“They work all hours of the day and night, at a really fast pace,” she said. “It’s crazy and everything is always changing. They go from planning, planning, and planning to crisis mode. I get phone calls and emails from them in the middle of the night, often with requests that seem odd but later make perfect sense.”

For example, "Everybody Loves Whales" producers wanted a price to ship ice to Anchorage from Seattle. The ice was needed to supply a snowmaking machine to cover a mock-up of the city of Barrow they built in Anchorage.

She noted that Alaskans are expanding businesses and opening new ones to service the film industry and supply equipment, which might eventually cut into TOTE’s volumes somewhat.

“But it’s good for Alaska,” Higgins said.

North Star to Make Television Debut On Discovery Channel’s ‘Mighty Ships’

A Discovery Channel film crew spent two weeks on the TOTE ship North Star this winter, shooting an hour-long segment of the "Mighty Ships" program that is scheduled to air this July or August.

Four people from the network, which is owned by Canadian television channel CTV, made two round trips from Tacoma to Anchorage. They interviewed Capt. Rich Cadigan and other crewmembers while assembling footage for what amounts to a story about “a day in the life of a TOTE ship,” said Phil Morrell, Vice President for Marine and Terminal Operations.

“It’s about how we deal with the challenges of sailing in the North Pacific, into cold and icy Alaskan waters -- how we deal with adversity and achieve success,” Morrell said.

The Discovery Channel approached TOTE about the project last fall, according to Morrell, who said he became comfortable about the project after discussing it with the producers. As for the final product, Morrell said the Discovery Channel “is delighted with it and so are we.”

PROFILE: TOTE Subsidiary Alta Logistics Can Move Your Cargo

The Business
Based in Anchorage, Alta Logistics is a third-party logistics company (known in industry jargon as a 3PL). The company owns no boats, barges, ships, planes or other moving assets, but uses the expertise of its staff and its knowledge of the industry to move all kinds of cargo for its customers on any mode of transportation. They like to say they move “everything from dog collars to drill collars.” Recent moves have included such diverse cargoes as jet engines, 850-pound electric motors, telephone modems, a fire truck, and a gasket set that weighed less than a pound. The company’s niche is moving cargo between Alaska and the Lower 48 states, but it handles moves all over the world. It also charters airplanes when traditional transportation solutions do not fit the needs of the freight. Alta recently moved a 25,000-pound emergency replacement engine along with pallets of parts and materials via charter aircraft from the Lower 48 to a crippled boat in the Caribbean.

History
The company was formed in 1992 as NACLink, the freight-forwarding arm of Northern Air Cargo. NACLink arranged movements of freight from its point of origin to Anchorage, where Northern Air Cargo would transport it to their customers in the bush communities. When Saltchuk Resources, which owns TOTE parent company American Shipping Group, bought Northern Air Cargo in 2006, NACLink came with it. Two years later Saltchuk split off the company, renamed it Alta Air Logistics and gave it a charge to continue growing into a full-fledged 3PL. Early this year, the company became a subsidiary of TOTE and is now known as Alta Logistics.

The Team
Alta Logistics is a team of eight people with a total of more than 150 years of experience in the transportation industry. It is headed by Stephanie Holthaus, who started with Northern Air Cargo loading aircraft as a ramp worker. She moved up the ranks through customer service, sales and marketing, and became president of Alta Logistics. Early this year, she became TOTE’s vice president of sales and customer service with continuing responsibility for Alta. Other members of the team are Dave Slyker, General Manager Anchorage; Karen Grace, Manager of Business Development; Keven Schlosstein, Logistics Coordinator and Outside Sales; Benjamin Ortez, Operations Agent; Laura Bain, Finance Manager; Pam Felton, finance; and Brandie Holmes, Logistics Coordinator in the Seattle area.

TOTE Ships Are Now Plugging into Shore Power, Reducing Emissions at the Port of Tacoma

The propulsion generators TOTE uses to run electrical systems on its Orca class cargo ships aren’t exactly like the portable generators you turn on when there is a power outage at your house. These behemoths are the size of a house, about 50-feet long and two stories high, and each of the ships has four of these propulsion generators plus two the size of buses in its engine room.

Shutting those generators down when the ships are at their berth at the Port of Tacoma and plugging into shore power, which TOTE started doing last October, has significant environmental benefits. TOTE’s new practice means that the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from the terminal will be reduced by about 2,600 tons each year.

Running ship systems on shore power when they are in port is known as “cold ironing,” a phrase that has its roots in the old-time practice of coal-burning ships shutting down boilers while in port, allowing their iron power plants to become cold. The TOTE terminal in Tacoma is the first cargo terminal on Puget Sound to initiate the practice.

“It’s been great,” said port engineer Daryl Swiggs, who led the cold ironing project. “The crews were a little hesitant at first but now they love it. With the noise down so much, they can even have a conversation with another person in the engine room.”

Swiggs, who got his experience in electrical systems during a 29-year career in the Navy, started planning Tacoma’s shore power system shortly after joining TOTE four years ago.

After the estimates came in higher than expected, and with the help of Port of Tacoma Director of Environmental Services Cindy Lin, the company was awarded a grant of almost $1.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to install the system. TOTE covered the remainder of the total cost of $2.7 million.

Swiggs had about a year to get the system installed, beginning in the fall of 2009. Much of the equipment went aboard the ships during “rollover” periods at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s day, when TOTE has one sailing a week instead of two.

Shipyard and electrical workers then made a number of Tacoma-Anchorage runs on the ships to install the systems.

On the shoreside piece, Swiggs worked with the Port and contractors to modify the existing 480-volt system to 6,600 volts, installing a transformer and a power factor corrector, which helps reduce the electric bill.

When the ships arrive in Tacoma, crewmembers dangle a large plug down the side of the ship. Longshoremen retrieve it and plug it into a permanently fixed receptacle.

“The whole process takes three to five minutes,” Swiggs said.

New Trailers Are Popular with Customers, Enable TOTE to Reduce Size of Fleet

TOTE is replacing its 30- and 45-foot foot trailers with insulated models built by Hyundai in Mexico. These new insulated trailers will enable the company to reduce the size of its trailer fleet while meeting customer requirements year-round.

In the past, many customers have had to switch from dry trailers to insulated trailers to protect their products from freezing in the winter months and then switch back to dry trailers during the summer months. The insulation in the older models was thick enough that it took up cargo space so they only loaded the insulated models when weather dictated.

The new trailers have thinner insulation material that provides the customer the dimensions of a dry trailer. They also are 14 feet tall, compared to the 13 feet or 13 feet six inches of the older trailers. The insulated trailers are equipped with conductive tape that keeps them warm enough to prevent freezing.

“The customers really like them, so we will be using them year-round, and we will be able to reduce our fleet of 30- and 45-footers significantly and increase our overall utilization while still meeting our customers needs,” said Matt Devenere, Transportation Services manager. “The 30-footers, with their extra height, are particularly popular because they are only about 400 cubic feet smaller than a standard 40 and 500 cubic feet larger than our old model 30-footers.”

TOTE received 60 new 30-foot trailers and 40 45-foot trailers last fall. This year, the company expects to buy 20 more of each size. Eventually, TOTE will operate with about 140 30-footers and 110 45-foot trailers.

The new trailers are not only built with the customers in mind but to cope with the harsh Alaska environment in which they operate, Devenere said. For example, they are more corrosion resistant, with many parts being hot-dip galvanized.

The company also bought 20 30-foot refrigerated trailers last year, adding to an existing fleet of 50. These new refrigerated trailers are 14 feet tall.

Devenere said Hyundai is delivering an excellent product. “They’re building a great trailer for us and we’re proud to have them in the fleet going forward,” he said.

MV North Star, MV Midnight Sun Are Drydocked in Victoria

TOTE’s two Orca Class cargo ships headed to Victoria, British Columbia, for consecutive 11-day drydockings in late January and into February. The timing of the drydockings meant Victoria Shipyard craftsmen had to perform the maintenance work in inclement Northwest winter weather, in order to minimize disruption for TOTE’s customers.

“It’s raining and blowing and you’re trying to paint the ship and it’s challenging, but we manage it,” said Cliff Hill, TOTE Director of Marine and Tacoma Operations. “We have this done in January because it’s a slow month for our cargo volumes.”

The Ponce Class ship SS Great Land, which substitutes for Orca class MV North Star and MV Midnight Sun when they are out of service, is a smaller ship but can handle the winter volumes for TOTE customers, Hill said.

The Orca Class ships are drydocked every three years for inspections to maintain their U.S. Coast Guard and American Bureau of Shipping certifications.

Maintenance performed included pulling propellers and replacing shaft seals, repairing rudder damage caused by cavitation and erosion, and blasting and repainting the hulls with icebreaker coating.

“Going into Cook Inlet is damaging to the paint because of all the ice and silt,” Hill said.

TOTE has the shipyard apply three thick coats of icebreaker coating to the heavy wear area and that is barely enough to get through to the next drydocking.

He explained that the ships go to Victoria Shipyard because its drydock, at 1,186 feet long, is the only one within a reasonable distance that can handle the 839-foot Orca-class ships.

This is the third time the ships have been drydocked in Victoria since their delivery in 2003.

“We always have a good experience in this yard, because it’s full of experienced people to work on the ships,” he said.

“Some are third generation working in the same facility, so they have a tremendous amount of experience. It’s probably the most professional shipyard I’ve ever been in.”

Rain Gardens Improve Environmental Footprint and Perk Up TOTE’s Tacoma Terminal

In a project that is the first of its kind at a Puget Sound marine terminal, TOTE has created two rain gardens at its Port of Tacoma facility that will naturally filter up to 10 percent of the rainwater falling on the terminal to help address surface water pollution challenges.

With a price tag of just $24,000 for site preparation and plants, the project cost a fraction of a more traditional, industrial filtering system that would treat the same amount of runoff, about 250,000 gallons a year.

About 75 volunteers, both TOTE employees and people from the community, gathered at the terminal on April 19. They planted about 600 shrubs and other small plants, which had been set in pots at their designated spots the day before.

Rand Lymangrover, terminal facility, environmental and security manager, said the project got underway about two years ago.

“We were looking at ways to improve our environmental footprint and our storm water quality, but also, this is a good demonstration project for other terminal operators on how you can do this relatively inexpensively without purchasing a big storm water treatment system,” he said.

“The third thing was that by doing this, we will definitely improve the look of our terminal,” he added. “If you saw photos of what these areas looked like before, they weren’t pretty, but now they will be.”

The Tacoma Garden Club provided a $500 grant for shrubbery purchases, and volunteers representing a number of community groups helped design the gardens, including the garden club and Citizens For A Healthy Bay. AHBL Engineering made drawings of the garden designs for free, and the Port of Tacoma provided a place for asphalt and fill disposal and helped with permitting.

Site preparation for the gardens, which measure 120 by 30 feet and 100 by 6 to 8 feet, included removing three layers of asphalt, totaling about a foot thick.

“This area has a lot of history, and every time another new business came in, they’d put down another layer,” Lymangrover said. “But once we got through the asphalt and fill, we got to what appears to be native soil, sandy and perfect for the rain garden – the ideal filter, with no clay at all.”

The gardens are slanted and designed to collect water from adjacent areas of the terminal. Also, downspouts on nearby buildings have been redirected toward the gardens.

“We hope in the future to do this in more areas of the terminal,” Lymangrover said.

New ASG President Was Born Into the Maritime Industry

Anthony Chiarello, a veteran of more than 30 years in the transportation and logistics industry, is the new president of TOTE parent company American Shipping Group.

Chiarello was born into the maritime business. His grandfather, father, uncles and cousins worked in the family’s Brooklyn-based Stevedoring and terminal operations business, originally named Chiarello Brothers in 1898.

Chiarello, who joined American Shipping Group last August, was previously COO and executive vice president of NYK Logistics (Americas), Inc. Prior to his position with NYK, he was the senior vice president, Global Customer Development for AMB Property Corporation. Before that he was chairman and president of Hudd Distribution Services, Inc., a Maersk Logistics company.

He also held other positions within Maersk, including President of Maersk Logistics USA Inc.; Chairman of Maersk Customs Services; President of Maersk Equipment Service Company, Inc., and vice president for Universal Maritime Service Corporation, a Stevedoring and terminal subsidiary of Maersk Sealand. Chiarello also was a member of the board of directors for Bridge Terminal Transportation and held the position of deputy executive director of the Maryland Port Administration.

Chiarello serves on the Board of Visitors for the Northeastern University School of Business. Other industry involvement includes leadership participation with the Retail Industry Leaders Association; the Board of Advisors for the United States Merchant Marine Academy; past facilitator for the annual Terminal Management Training Program, and participation as an active member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and is an alumnus of Insead Business Institute of Fontainebleau, France. Chiarello lives outside Princeton, N.J., with his wife, Christine, a corporate attorney, and is the father of five and grandfather of five.

Robert P. Magee Marine Terminal

TOTE’s Tacoma terminal has been named the Robert P. Magee Marine Terminal in memory of and tribute to TOTE’s legendary leader. The new name is proudly displayed on signs at each gated entrance to the terminal as well as in front of the administration building.

TOTE’s employees, partners, and customers may describe Bob Magee differently, but all agree his impact on TOTE and Saltchuk was, and continues to be, unmatched. Rich Griffith, retired senior vice president of operations at American Shipping Group (ASG), joked that because Bob had already earned and received every major maritime award in the United States the only thing left to do was to name the terminal after him. “To me the terminal is aptly named,” Rich said, “in recognition of Bob’s dedication and contribution to TOTE and Saltchuk.” Many of Bob’s awards for maritime and community leadership reside in a custom-built display cabinet, welcoming employees and visitors in the lobby of the administration building at the Robert P. Magee Marine Terminal.

Katie Magee Houston, former pricing analyst at TOTE, spoke of the naming of TOTE’s Tacoma terminal in her father’s memory and how meaningful it is to her and her family. “I don’t think I can express that enough – how deeply honored we are.” Katie is proud of her father’s accomplishments and impact on the maritime community and is pleased that his name is now forever linked to TOTE. She is most proud, however, of his devotion to his family. “He was very busy professionally but he always made time for us.”

The memorial dedication ceremony is planned for September.

Izzie in the Infirmary

Izzie, a young bear, was one of the first patients in the recently dedicated ConocoPhillips Animal Infirmary at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. TOTE was one of the corporate donors for the new facility, a building which includes several holding areas for sick or injured animals, two outdoor pens and a surgical/medical room.

TOTE vs. AFF: Food Drive 2011

TOTE and American Fast Freight (AFF) came together in May for a friendly competition benefiting the Emergency Food NetWork (EFN) of Pierce County. The challenge was to gather the largest total donation over three days, whether non-perishable food, cash, or a combination; the winning team earned a pizza party and bragging rights. In the end TOTE was bested by AFF, which donated 10,447 pounds of food compared to TOTE’s donation of 6,665 pounds (4,051 pounds of food and $2,614).

In addition to the competition with AFF, TOTE’s divisions in the Federal Way and Tacoma offices battled for a continental breakfast. Finance and II came out on top with a total donation of 1,823 pounds (1,423 pounds of food and $400), getting past Tacoma operations by just more than 100 pounds. An enthusiastic team (Shailyn Drazkowski, senior accountant; Patsie Johnson, operations supervisor; Jaime Keith, support operations manager – customer services; Tami Mcbride, loss prevention and quality specialist; and Terry Velasco, senior operations analyst) encouraged donations with raffle prizes, cupcakes, and rallying emails.

This contest was the kickoff event for TOTE’s and AFF’s new corporate partnerships with the EFN. Joel Houston, senior pricing and market research manager, worked with others participating in a local leadership program to create a brochure for the EFN’s corporate partner program. After seeing the two companies collect the equivalent of more than 17,000 pounds of food, Houston hopes to make the food drive an annual event and recruit other corporate partners.

The emergency food network works “to provide a reliable food supply so that no person in Pierce County goes hungry.” More than 140,000 people seek emergency food assistance each month in Pierce County; the EFN provides food and other essentials at no cost to over 65 food banks, hot meal sites, and shelters for distribution to low-income families and individuals. To learn more about or become involved with the EFN, please visit www.efoodnet.org.

Day of Caring in Anchorage

Employees from TOTE and sister company Northern Air Cargo (NAC) teamed up to participate in the United Way Day of Caring on Sept. 9. The group painted and cleaned up the Anchorage Pioneer Home, an assisted living retirement facility in Downtown Anchorage. The employees also hosted a barbecue lunch for residents and volunteers organized by Mike Arnold and Caroline Higgins. MORNING CREW (left) are, front row from left, volunteers Cheryl Johnson, Cindy Curtis, Kristin Hummel, Shannon Martindale and Kaye Holowatch, all from TOTE. In the back row are Tina Brandon, Christina Fomai, and Maggie Hailey, from NAC, and Sylvia Thompson, Lona Derner-Kinney, Chuck Muscio, Mike Thrasher and George Lowery, from TOTE. AFTERNOON CREW (right) are, front row, Blake Arrington and Christina Fomai of NAC, middle row, Dawn McQuay, Mandie Burgess, Tammy Maggard, Stacy Rafter and Stacy George of TOTE, Tina Brandon of NAC and Mike Yassick of TOTE, and rear, Mike Arnold and Pat Kilgore of TOTE.

Chilly Polar Bears

Five TOTE-sponsored swimmers survived this year’s Polar Bear Plunge on Jan. 22 in Seward, Alaska, and turned a pickup truck into a miniature version of the cargo ship North Star for the event, held to benefit the American Cancer Society. In the photo are, from left, Kristin Chandler, Shannon and Brent Martindale (behind Shannon), Robert Lincoln and Nelana Norwood. Shannon is a TOTE drayage coordinator, and Nelana and Robert are her cousins. Kristin is a transportation specialist.

2011 TOTE Annual golf Classic: A Big Success

LEFT: Maj. Jim Anderson of the U.S. Army’s Surface Deployment and Distribution Command slams a drive during TOTE’s annual golf tournament June 16 at Washington National Golf Course in Auburn. More than 135 customers and TOTE employees participated in the event, which included a reception, dinner and prize drawing featuring a trip to Alaska on a TOTE ship (only customers were eligible). Watching Anderson, from left, were Tim Engle of Saltchuk Resources, Pat Kilgore of TOTE and Todd Reber of Animal Supply Co.

RIGHT: The foursome of, from left, Mike Oliver of Lynden, Inc. Mike Botten and Mike Brennan, both of Fred Meyer, and Ken Mowry of TOTE.

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