Each workday, Dennis Kelly looks forward to watching a smooth transition of cargo as regional vice president and general manager of the TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point.
Kelly, 64, has been working on the docks since he was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1968. He started working for Dole Food Co. as a shipping clerk in Gulfport, Miss., near his Mississippi hometown of Bay St. Louis.
"I was always intrigued by the banana ships coming in to port when I was growing up. When I started working in the shipping industry, I saw that every ship was from a different company, so you met people from all around the world," said Kelly.
His career has taken him to ports in Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. Kelly moved to Jacksonville in 2006 as Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, TraPac's parent company, started to develop the 158-acre container terminal at the Jacksonville Port Authority's Dames Point Marine Terminal.
The Jacksonville terminal is one of three TraPac facilities in the U.S. and the company's only East Coast terminal. It can handle about 750,000 TEUs, 20-foot equivalent units, annually.
Kelly's favorite part of the job is watching employees and machinery work together to unload and load cargo from ships.
"I like the simple things, and seeing a vessel being processed smoothly and efficiently is quite a sight," said Kelly.
That vision has changed over his career. He remembered in the beginning how the loading and unloading of cargo required as many as 300 longshoremen because the cargo was shipped in boxes, bales, pallets or other units.
With the development of containerized cargo and automated equipment, the number of employees to perform the task has been greatly reduced.
"Now it takes about 20-40 people to move the cargo," said Kelly.
The reduction in employees is due to TraPac's automated terminal. It is equipped with an 18-lane automated gate complex and machinery to identify and check in containers and truck license plates at each gate lane.
The container yard is on a GPS grid system to assist in the location and movement of cargo. Kelly can monitor the process in real time through his computer with the help of 60-70 cameras placed throughout the terminal.
Both the Los Angeles and Oakland terminals are similarly equipped, and can also be seen at Kelly's desktop.
With all the technology being used at the terminal, Kelly identified the computer as the most important piece of equipment in his office.
"It is critical to monitoring our systems and it is also critical for our systems to be well maintained," he said.
When he's not functioning as the point man for TraPac in Jacksonville, Kelly likes to spend time with his family and in the outdoors through running, biking or fishing.
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