RSS
Home
Business
SEE THE LATEST ON THIS STORY
)
The 300-year-old port recently snagged Subaru from the port in Newport News, Va. Add to that the recent addition of Porsche, and the Port of Baltimore maintains its status as No. 2 among East Coast ports for automotive exports.
Subaru plans to import and export about 31,000 vehicles annually through the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore. The addition of Subaru will bring undetermined number of new jobs to the port, said Mel Bafford, general manager of automobiles and projects for the Maryland Port Administration.
“There will always be new jobs when a new auto manufacturer comes to the port,” Bafford said.
In 2005, the port exported 114,822 vehicles and exports 461,491 vehicles.
In fact, Subaru had been at the Port of Baltimore 10 years ago but moved to Newport News because at the time the company determined it was more cost-efficient, and it had already worked with the Newport News vehicle processor at other ports.
But a vehicle quality assurance program launched by the port in 1997, helped make Baltimore more attractive to Subaru.
“Being in Baltimore affords us very distinctive opportunities that we simply cannot get from other ports,” said Larry Strug, National Transportation Manager for Subaru of America.
“Baltimore’s inland location and close proximity to the Midwest is ideal for us in that we can get our products from Point A to Point B quicker. Also, the level of their quality program is something you just cannot find with other ports.”
The Baltimore port will handle global shipments of the new Subaru Tribeca, a sport utility vehicle built in Lafayette, Ind.
Global shipping company and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics will open a new facility at the Port to handle the Subaru vehicles.
“The contract with Subaru represents an ideal opportunity to launch our new facility,” said Christopher Connor, president of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Americas.
Bafford said Baltimore is becoming more attractive to automakers because the port has the best quality assurance program in the nation. Every month, labor, shippers, vehicle processors and port management meet to discuss vehicle quality, improvements and potential problems.
