James McKenna and Robert McEllrath to be Honored at Connie Award Dinner

James McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association, and Robert McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, will be honored October 1 by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute (CII) at the first ever Connie Award event to be held on the West Coast. Each recipient will be recognized for significant influence in containerization in world trade and transportation at an industry-wide dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach, CA. The Port of Long Beach is a principal sponsor of the event. CII, founded in 1960, has been presenting the Connie Award since 1972 and it has become the most coveted honor in the field of containerization and its ancillary industry. Among some 35 recipients are Malcom McLean, Thomas B. Crowley Sr., Bruce Seaton and Douglas Tilden. McKenna's organization, the PMA, negotiates and administers maritime labor agreements with McEllrath's group, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). PMA member companies are ocean cargo carriers, terminal operators and stevedores that operate at West Coast ports, where overall cargo movement supports eight million U.S. jobs. The union represents waterfront workers along the Pacific Coast and Hawaii. The recipients were chosen following an industry poll and are being recognized for efforts in securing a six-year contract covering more than 25,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports. As president of the San Francisco-based PMA, Jim McKenna directs the association's principal business activity of negotiating and administering maritime labor agreements with the ILWU on the West Coast. He also oversees all operations, including the administration of payroll, benefits, and pension, and the training of the ILWU workforce and PMA staff. Prior to joining PMA in July 2003, McKenna was chief operating officer at Horizon Lines (formerly CSX). He has nearly 30 years of domestic and international maritime industry experience that includes vessel operations, procurement, terminal operations, and labor relations activities at Sea-Land Service and Horizon Lines. In addition to the awards, CII will present several scholarships to students studying logistics and scholarships and to maritime academy cadets. The mission of CII is to promote and support the business of international trade and the intermodal container transportation community. CII, a non-profit organization, promotes industry awareness, preserves the history of intermodalism, and engages scholarly interest in the field by organizing educational conferences and seminars, serving as an information resource, providing networking opportunities, offering career guidance, arranging internships, and facilitating scholarships. The CII Connie Awards dinner is $175 per ticket. Tickets and sponsorships are available. For more information, contact Barbara Yeninas, Executive Director, by (732) 817-9131 or execdir@containerization.org or Event Manager Kimberly McCloskey, at Kimberly@bsya.com.