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[ ] R E P O R T PA G E 6 Life After The Waterfront: Reflections of a Reluctant Retiree Does the title make a reader curious? I hope so, tor I invite you to share some of my experiences and thoughts in th~s new state in which I fred myself retirement¸ Having spent nearly 50 years in our industry, I retired at the end of 2004 and here it is almost 2009¸ Time really does fly! Not only did we retire, but Gmny and I decided to move to Califomm for two reasons: all our children live here (and, amazing as it my sound, so far they haven't moved elsewhere) and having two homes 3,000 miles apart wasn't practical After those almost 50 years in the business, salt water and diesel flames are probably in my veins¸ I find myself continuing to love being a part of the business even though we live in the desert, away ~ To m t h e G c e a n ~ c o n t a i n e r c r a n ~ s and diesel equipment¸ When we first moved here, we thought that golf would be THE major part of our new life, and although we truly enjoy living in a ~ f c o m m u n i t y a n d p l a y i n g s e v e Y a l t l r n ~ s a w e ~ r w e c a m e t o realize that golf alone ~s not enough¸ Take note you golfers who will soon retie [ am presently finishing up a tw~year tern/as ptesident ot our 1,206 urat homeowners assoemtlon, which has a six million dollar opetating budget and a tour and a half million dollar reserve fland This has been very time coi~uming, although rewarding But it is time tor someone else to step up to the plate Besides, the pay is lousy¸ As they say on the West Side, "not hin" from nothin' leaves nothin" " Over the course of these almost five years, many things seemed to have remained the same, but as Bob Dylan might have saicl it, "changes were a comin" " Things that never changed indude my love of the industry, which makes it necessary to visit old friends and to get my annual mflaslon of New York and the East Coast¸ So, I continue to keep abreast of developments in Iongshoring and t et~inals anti maritime¸ I do some Consulting, I talk to the outpor ts, I've testified (by tolephone) in an arbitration ease, s a t i n o n t r a q : l e p r a c t i c e c a s e s while on the East Coast, participated in the defense of a tormmal operator being sued in a retable accidental death on the waterfront, and I read the online lournal of Commerce and various other online reports¸ I've attencled ret~ement flanctions a n d a w a r d s d i i m e r s f o r example, John Bowers' retirement dinner anti 5ira Capo's AOTOS award¸ I've congratulated Richie Hughes on has ascent to the presidency of the ILA These are some of the things that have remained c o Y ~ t a n t On the other side of the ledger there are many things that have changed, but all of these are tr~mped by the present dire economic conditions we fred in our world¸ With the hkes of an AIG and the Big Three Auto makers (can we even call them that anymore?) in trouble¸ With the demise of major banks anti Wall Street players, with the conlanuing reports of ever more people out of work and real fear in markets around the world, our industry finds itself at c r o s s r o a d s n e v e r l r n a ~ l l e d Carriers are cutting/combining services and laying up ships They are laying off employees¸ Ports are also feeling the effects of the worldwide economic d o w n t u r n ¸ Those presently employed are wotTiecl about 40~Ks and the promise of future pension and healthear e programs¸ Retirees have similar concerns about the future anti the present¸ There ~s a mentality abroad that we should put any money we may have "under the mattress" It is against that background that we have heard the very good news from Richie Hughes and Jim Capo that they intend to begin the bargaining for a new contract well ahead of the September 30, 2010 deadline¸ Having begun my career in the mic11950s, I remember vividly the days when management anti the ILA approached a contract (, ontinued on Page 7)

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