Page 119 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

A Stalwart Goes the Distance
[2011-2021]
R ukert Terminals Corporation held a 90th anniversary
celebration for 300 guests on
September 17, 2011. The party was held at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers
Maritime Museum on Thames Street in Fells Point, mere steps from the site of Jackson’s Wharf that Cap Rukert acquired in 1927. As always, company leaders proudly honored the past while fixing their gaze on the future. After operating for nine decades, anticipation was building for the ultimate milestone, a century in business! With 15 years of experience under Norm and John’s leadership, the team of Shaun, Andy, Jason and Frank were poised to help shepherd the company to 100 years and beyond.
Just two years after putting the Liebherr
crane into service, new business was rolling in and revenues were at an all-time high. Always striving to build a bigger, better and more efficient terminal, management reinvested the profits into maintaining and improving the terminal, buying new equipment and expanding the workforce. Another key to the company’s success is remaining financially solvent, which allows management to capitalize quickly on opportunities and spend when needed.
The winter of 2012 was one of the mildest on record in Maryland. The average temperature in Baltimore was more than five degrees above average. In addition, the area saw the least amount of snow since 1972. With little demand for deicing salt, the notorious stockpiles at Rukert Terminals remained tall and did not need replenishing. Management and other employees who enjoy salt season hoped the disappointing winter was an anomaly.
While bulk tonnage lagged below normal, break-bulk and project cargo tonnage was on the rise. In the spring of 2012, employees unloaded several vessels of wind project components bound for Pennsylvania. First, employees discharged three ships of wind tower sections using the Liebherr and the ship’s cranes in tandem. Next, three more vessels carrying the nacelles, which house the generating components of the turbine, and the rotor hubs, which hold the turbine blades, were discharged. Fully assembled, each of
the 68 wind turbines
at the Twin Ridges
Wind Farm is nearly
300 feet tall.
FACING PAGE:
The celebration of Rukert Terminals' 90th anniversary took place at the Frederick Douglass- Isaac Myers Maritime Museum in Fells Point.
BELOW: Wind blades are being discharged in tandem. The Twin Ridges Wind Farm in Pennsylvania.
PART II BRINGING THE WORLD TO BALTIMORE
111