Newsome Named CEO of South Carolina Ports

The directors of the South Carolina State Ports Authority voted unanimously to hire Jim Newsome III as its new president and chief executive officer at their monthly board meeting today.

Newsome, who is currently president of Hapag-Lloyd (America), will take over his new position on Sept. 1.

Newsome, a native of Savannah, Ga., will fill the position that has been vacant since January, when Bernard F. Groseclose, Jr. resigned.

Newsome, 53, brings more than 30 years of global shipping experience to the ports of Charleston and Georgetown and is only the fifth leader of the SCSPA in its 67-year history.

His hiring caps an intense five-month executive search led by a 13-member search committee of business leaders and port stakeholders from across the state.

Newsome will face a number of challenges when he assumes his new role. The state-owned Port of Charleston is in danger of losing its largest customer, Maersk Line, which accounts for 20 percent of its container volume.

Maersk announced that it planned to pull its remaining business out of Charleston when its contract expires at the end of 2010.

The Maersk announcement was precipitated by the refusal of International Longshoremen's Association locals to allow the company to operate from a "common-use" area where gates are staffed by non-union state port employees.

The SCSPA is still in negotiations with the Danish carrier about preserving its remaining business.

On the plus side, Charleston has gained a substantial chunk of new business from Mediterranean Shipping Co., which signed a new five-year contract with the port in May and subsequently added a sixth weekly call at the port, bringing an additional 52 ship calls to the more than 200 calls it makes every year.

Newsome, who joined Hapag-Lloyd in 1997, and took over as president on Jan. 1, is the first non-German president of Hapag-Lloyd America.

Prior to joining Hapag-Lloyd, he spent 10 years with Nedlloyd Lines, serving as executive vice president of the Americas, president of Nedlloyd Lines (USA) and other senior management positions.

Before his time with Nedlloyd, Newsome spent 10 years with Strachan Shipping Company, where he was president of their Hoegh Lines Agencies subsidiary in Jersey City, N.J., and held other positions in Houston and New York.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.