Page 104 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

ABOVE: October 2006 Port of Baltimore magazine celebrates Rukert’s 85 years
year. The successful program, which uses incentives like gift cards and special lunches, earned the company an IWIF Workplace Safety Award in 2012.
Rukert Terminals held its first Health and Wellness Fair for employees in late 2005. The annual event features wellness education and on-site health screenings. Participating employees are entered into drawings for prizes or extra vacation days. Together, the safety program and health fair demonstrate a 21st-century, proactive and preven- tion-focused approach to the health and safety
of the growing workforce. Since their inception, annual employee health screenings have detected life-threatening illnesses and potentially saved lives.
In September 2006, Rukert Terminals celebrated its 85th anniversary with a party at the Living Classrooms in Fells Point. Far from
a startup, Rukert Terminals was now a mature
and globally-recognized company operating in an increasingly fast-paced world. When they started
at the company, Shaun, Andy, Jason and Frank routinely used a Polaroid camera to capture pictures of cargo for their customers. The fastest way to share the images was through overnight mail.
With the advent of the digital camera and email, photos could be shared within a matter of minutes. Each new technology, from the fax machine to the smartphone, quickened the pace of information exchange until it became instant.
The company’s 85th anniversary coincided with the start of the reconstruction of “B” berth at Lazaretto. Rukert Terminals needed the second berth to accommodate the general cargo business, which had grown to over 750,000 tons per year, much of it arriving by Ro-Ro vessel. For many years, Rukert operated the only warehouse in the country receiving pure nickel and cobalt by vessel from Norway. Each week, warehouse employees loaded drums of nickel onto trucks bound for the United States Mint.
The original “B” berth, built in 1962, was 575 feet long with 35 feet of dredge depth and a load capacity of 1,000 pounds per square foot. While impressive for its time, it lasted only 40 years. Today, most new piers on the East Coast have a load capacity of 1,000 pounds per square foot and a 50-year life.
Management was determined to apply the lessons of the past and exceed current standards
to build a pier for the future. The new berth was designed by Moffatt & Nichol to be twice as big, twice as strong and twice as durable as its prede- cessor. The new and improved “B” berth would have a 950-foot pier deck with a load capacity of 2,000 pounds per square foot across the entire pier,
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