Port tenants question QDC choice to run terminal

PORT OF DAVISVILLE in North Kingstown. / COURTESY QUONSET DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
PORT OF DAVISVILLE in North Kingstown. / COURTESY QUONSET DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The choice of Rhode Island Port Services as the new terminal operator for the port of Davisville in North Kingstown has two of the biggest existing companies there, Seafreeze Ltd. and Rhody Transportation & Warehousing Inc., questioning how the agency managing port operations handled the search.
The Quonset Development Corporation declared R.I. Port Services the winner of its request for proposals on Sept. 20. The company was formed specifically for the bid, consisting of representatives from Seaview Transportation of North Kingstown and New England Stevedoring Services of Exeter, familiar faces at the port. According to QDC, both companies are experienced in terminal operations. Seaview Transportation operates the railway system running throughout the park.
Meanwhile, the two port tenants favored an experienced, six-terminal operator from Iceland called Eimskip, which would not only run the port but bring its own shipping operation, making North Kingstown its North American headquarters.
The QDC had detailed discussions with Eimskip throughout the first three months of this year but opted to issue a request for proposals for a terminal operator. When QDC did not commit to conditions necessary to improve the port and make it Eimskip’s headquarters, the company chose not to bid. Eimskip’s current central U.S. location is in Norfolk, Va.
Larus Isfeld, general manager at Eimskip, told Providence Business News in an email last week that, “At present we are evaluating our options in New England. We choose not to comment while these negotiations are taking place.”
QDC spokesman David Preston said there is still hope that Eimskip will be able to do business in Rhode Island.
“There is no reason why Eimskip can’t start bringing cargo to the port today,” he said.
According to Preston, Eimskip required exclusive rights to run the port, including a container yard, warehouses and offices, something Geir Monsen, vice president of Seafreeze, and Rhody Transportation General Manager Chris Tavares, who say they were present in the discussions, deny. “QDC offered the facilities at first, and although Eimskip planned on shipping in its own containers as well as being the operator, they never demanded exclusive rights,” Monsen said. “They are unique because they operate small ships with their own onboard cranes. They would use the land-based crane but could use their own if there was a breakdown, and those things happen.” Preston noted that QDC was also concerned about how Eimskip’s presence would impact NORAD of North Kingstown, one of the largest auto importers in North America.
Preston added QDC is confident in R.I. Port Services’ capability. “The collaboration between QDC and R.I. Port Services is exactly the kind of public-private cooperation described in the legislative port-commission report issued earlier this year. This is a precise bull’s-eye in that realm.”
The selection of R.I. Port Services comes as QDC nears completion of several improvements to the port, including a new crane, all funded by a $22.3 million “TIGER” grant through the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Seafreeze and Rhody Transportation both admit they saw financial benefits to Eimskip becoming terminal operator. Eimskip’s cargo would have increased their businesses, growing as many as 150 jobs in a difficult economy.
“For us it means that we may not see the extra trucking because of Eimskip, unless they decide to use the port,” Rhody Sales Manager Kevin McDonough said.
While both Seafreeze and Rhody Transportation say they remain committed to the port, the former acknowledges its relationship with the QDC is “fractured. … We do not think there will be a good working relationship in the future,” said Monsen.
“We introduced [EDC] to Eimskip, which was interested in running the terminal and making Quonset its home base, but by the end of our meetings it was clear we were not wanted at all, and we don’t know why things changed.”
He said a QDC official told him at a meeting that Seafreeze “shouldn’t even be in Quonset in the first place, that we should be more inland.”
Preston said he was not present at the meeting where Monsen said he was told his company didn’t belong at the port.
While Monsen disagrees with QDC’s final choice, Seafreeze is ready to make the most of its leased location at the port.
“Our business has been growing by about $5 million over the last few years,” he said. “There is still some room for a little growth and we have no intention of leaving.” he said. •

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