Page 26 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Nov/Dec 2011
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The Port of Baltimore
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November/December 2011
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person
BY MERRILL WITTY
Photograph By Kathy Bergren Smith
S
uch is the lure of the sea that some-
times, even when least expected, a
person finds he must give himself
over to it.
“I can tell you that when I left school
in 1986, I did not say I want to work in the
maritime industry,” said Greg Waidlich,
Operations Manager for the Atlantic
Container Line (ACL) Baltimore terminal. “I
was studying electro-mechanical technology
to work in the computer field. It just so
happened I took a job with ACL.
”
Waidlich has spent his entire 25-year
maritime career working for ACL, since
beginning in New Jersey in 1986 for ACL’s
subsidiary, Atlantic Coast Stevedores. He
worked in the terminal yard department
there, but after ACL stopped stevedoring in
New Jersey in 1991, he worked as a termi-
nal representative, and then later moved to
the company’s corporate logistics depart-
ment for four years. Next, he returned as an
Assistant Manager overseeing the vessel
operations in New Jersey.
That’s where he was working in July
2003 when he accepted an Assistant
Operations Manager job in Baltimore; he
was promoted to Operations Manager in
October 2007, overseeing ACL operations
in Baltimore, “which includes our owners’
Grimaldi Line operation,” he explained.
Waidlich is responsible for his company’s
daily terminal and weekly vessel operations.
“The different project cargoes we are capable
GREG WAIDLICH
Operating in Baltimore with ACL
of handling is what has kept me interested in
the maritime industry for 25 years,” he said.
ACL operates the largest Con-Ro
vessels (a hybrid between a container and
Roll-On/Roll-Off ship) in the North Atlantic
trade area, and “Baltimore is one of our
busiest ports,” said Waidlich. “We handle
700 containers weekly and an additional
500 TEUs of break-bulk and agriculture
machinery weekly, as well.”
ACL also handles a large amount of
construction cargo, from bulldozers to
excavators. Agriculture cargo includes
farm tractors, sprayers, combines, grain
carts, pickers — “You name it, we carry it,”
Waidlich said. “The stern ramps on the ACL
vessels have a 420-ton capacity, which gives
us the capability of handling big projects
that include transformers, locomotives and
other very big and heavy units.”
There’s excitement on the horizon,
according to Waidlich. “ACL is planning to
put into service our fourth-generation ves-
sels by the last quarter of 2013,” he said.
“They will have the capability of carrying
additional container and RO/RO volumes.”
Waidlich, who lives in Harford County
with his wife and daughter, sits on the
Steamship Trade Association board. “As
members, one of our primary jobs is nego-
tiating with the ILA on new local contracts,”
he said. “And we handle any labor disputes
between management and the union.”
ACL has been a customer of the Port
of Baltimore since 1967. “We work very
closely with (Maryland Port Administration
Executive Director) Jim White and Dave
Thomas. They are very responsive to our
needs. With that said, they are aware of the
new vessel plans and some of the improve-
ments that will need to be made in order to
work these new vessels at the same level
they presently work today.”
“ The stern ramps on the ACL vessels have a 420-
ton capacity, which gives us the capability of
handling big projects that include transformers,
locomotives and other very big and heavy units.”
