Meet the Press

It was a bitter cold, mid-January morning -- winds gusting at better than 30 miles per hour -- when an Eastern Car Liner vessel called the Bright State arrived in Baltimore from Yokohama, Japan. Thirty-three trucks and a teeth-chattering ITO crew waited at the port's South Locust Point Terminal for what amounted to just two items -- a pair of AIDA presses. 

It so happened that one of the presses, when fully assembled, weighted in excess of 430,000 points. And that was the baby of the brood. The other press tipped the scales at more than on million pounds. 

AIDA is a global builder of metal forming and stamping presses that are used in the manufacture of such items as automobile components, appliance parts, electric and electronic components, and food and beverage cans. More than 30,000 AIDA presses are currently operating worldwide, with 2,000 in the U.S. and 400 in Canada. 

The company's only North American manufacturing operations -- AIDA-Dayton Technologies Corporation (AIDA-DTC) -- has a 112,000-sq.-ft. production area in two parts. One is for high-speed presses and container presses with a 40- to 250-ton capacity, while the other handles large, progressive-die and transfer presses in the 300- to 2,500-ton capacity range. 

Though the Ohio facility is only three years old, the company has been in business for more than 80 years. When factoring in AIDA Engineering Ltd.'s headquarters in Kanagawa, Japan, and other production bases in the United Kingdom and Malaysia, AIDA worldwide boasts 1.25 million square feet of manufacturing space, more that 1,000 associates and press manufacturing capacity exceeding 1,500 presses per year. 

"We are one of the few manufacturers," notes AIDA-DTC Material Logistics Manager Debbie Myers-Bernardo, "with expertise to execute a move from initial planning and scheduling through rigging, erecting and installing a press at the customer's location. 

What this means is that AIDA never shies away from special challenges. Last year a TMX 2,500-ton transfer press, weighing just under 2 million pounds, was divided into 88 case of components and delivered on 28 trucks to an Ohio-based automotive supplier company. The bed of the TMX, which alone weighed 350,000 pounds, had to be carried by a dual-lane transporter.

Huddling to keep warm inside the new South Locust Point Pier 10 shed extension are, left-to-right: Edward M. Koga, Eastern Car Liner (USA) Inc. ; Barbara A. Boaz, Miami Valley Worldwide, Inc; Greg Ackerman, ITO Corp.; Cynthia M. Burman, MPA; Sandy Duncan, Miami Valley Worldwide, Inc.; and Debbie Myers-Bernardo, AIDA-Dayton Technologies Corp.

On a slightly smaller scale (all things being relative), AIDA's two January shipments from Japan to the Port of Baltimore had their own logistical challenges. 

AIDA frequently brings cargo through Baltimore bound for Dayton, where stock presses are warehoused awaiting distribution throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. But this time the two large presses -- a PMX 400-ton model and FT4-1600 -- were to be delivered directly to clients in Ontario. The usual route into Canada -- along the St. Lawrence Seaway -- is impassable in the winter.

The voyage started in Keelung, Taiwan where the larger components were loaded. The vessel then went to Yokohama to load the balance of the press components. The vessel sailed from the Far East vie the Panama Canal to the Port of Baltimore, where the weather made things less then pleasant. "Trying to unload in cold, tough conditions, with that wind whipping around, made life very difficult," says Barbara Boaz of Ohio-based Miami Valley Worldwide, a licensed freight forwarder and AIDA's Custom house broker. "Getting the cargo moved was a huge job."

And it didn't help matters that the Bright Star arrived on Jan. 17 -- the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday holiday. Still, ITO Corporation of Baltimore was able to have the gates opened at the South Locust Point Terminal and get the trucks loaded so as not to stop the presses. 

"ITO brought a crew in to move that shipment," says Myers-Bernardo. "Otherwise we would have been delayed at port. It really benefited us to get the presses on the road and meet the customers' delivery deadline."

Among those braving the cold while on hand for the vessel discharge were representatives of both Eastern Car Liner and Terminal Shipping (Eastern's ship agent), as well as port personnel, Myers-Bernardo, Baz and ITO's Greg Ackerman. 

All involved parties were impressed with the brand-new South Locust Point Pier 10 shed extension, and even more so with Ackerman's commitment. "I can't say enough about ITO," says Myers-Bernardo. "Whether it's a big challenge or a small one, Greg and his staff are there to help."

Adds Boaz, "We bring a lot of cargo into the Port of Baltimore on a weekly basis, and Greg is always very flexible about working with us."

Of AIDA, Boaz says, "We have a close relationship and a trusting relationship. With cargo of such size, AIDA often has special demands that need to be worked out many months in advance of shipment."

ITO's Ackerman chimes in that AIDA keeps the port on its toes. "They have sensitive freight, but we know how to handle it," he notes. "And we have worked very hard with AIDA to help their operation run as smoothly as possible. 

The Port of Baltimore, May 2000.