R. Kenneth Johns to Receive 2011 Connie Award from Containerization & Intermodal Institute

NEWARK, N.J. (Oct. 11, 2011) - The Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII) will present the 2011 Connie Award to Robert Kenneth (Ken) Johns, former president of Sea-Land Service Inc. for his significant influence in containerization in worldwide trade and transportation. The Connie Awards luncheon will be held Monday, December 5 at The Newark (NJ) Club.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented to Stanley Sher, a maritime attorney in Washington D.C., who has participated in virtually every major legislative initiative and judicial proceeding affecting the regulatory and competition laws governing international shipping in recent history.

"In a career lasting more than 50 years, Ken Johns is universally recognized as a leader of the international containerized ocean shipping industry," said Allen Clifford, CII president. "Today, the majority of all international trade is transported via the system of containerized ocean shipping that Johns was a key participant in developing from its very beginning. His more recent work in innovative port consultation has broadened his contributions to our industry."

Mr. Johns served as Sea-Land's president and chief operating officer from 1979-87. Under Johns' leadership, Sea-Land prospered as one of the world's largest, most innovative and successful transportation companies. He joined Sea-Land in 1957 when it was a then-newly organized company in Mobile, Alabama, founded by Malcom McLean. Mr. Johns worked his way through various levels of company management relocating from Mobile to Tampa to Jacksonville to New Orleans and ultimately to New Jersey.

Following his retirement, Ken Johns founded The Hampshire Management Group, Inc., of which he serves as chairman and chief executive officer. The company has been involved in numerous innovative and successful businesses that primarily serve the ocean shipping industry, including, among others: Network America Lines, Inc. (international ocean shipping specializing in trade with the former Soviet Union), Oiltest, Inc. (oil, petrochemical and marine fuel testing and inspection services) and R. K. Johns & Associates, Inc. (maritime business consulting).

In 2001, Mr. Johns was inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame. He also received Auburn University's Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed upon an alumnus by the University. He is a Director of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, a past Chairman of the National Maritime Council and a Director of the McLean Container Center.