Page 34 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Jan/Feb 2013

[32] The Port of Baltimore ■ January/February 2013 To subscribe or renew, visit www.marylandports.com
President Alan Kotz says
R.S. Stern is stocked
and ready to handle
the pressure of new
challenges that crop up
every day.
I n the wake of Hurricane Sandy last
October, when the U.S. Maritime
Administration needed to quickly
dispatch the S.S. Wright for relief
efforts, the ship’s operator, Crowley
Maritime Corporation, called upon a
Baltimore company to fully stock the ship.
Ship chandler R.S. Stern Inc., the oldest
continually operating ship supply company
in the United States and the largest at the
Port of Baltimore, got the job done in less
than 48 hours.
“We’re pretty attuned to working under
pressure and getting things turned around
quickly,” said Alan Kotz, President of R.S.
Stern, adding that they organized and
BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
Photography by Kathy Bergren Smith
PORT SHIP SUPPLIES
loaded more than
60 pallets of food.
Walk into the
company’s Canton
warehouse and
you’ll see orders
neatly stacked on
pallets, earmarked
for indiv idual
ships. The orders
include everything
from industrial-sized buckets of Stern
Suds, the company’s own brand of laundry
detergent, to ropes, rags for the engine
room, provisions for the galley and bottled
water — lots and lots of bottled water.
A BOW TO R.S. STERN
Nation’s Oldest Continually Operating
Chandler Keeps Getting the Job Done