REGIONAL REPORT
EASTERN US
ACT
JULY 2013
26
The Seaport District has given new impetus
to Shaughnessy and Ahern’s project schedule.
“It’s in an area of south Boston that has
slowly emerged from neglect,” says Jack
Shaughnessy, chairman of the company.
Hal Lundgren
reports
that things are picking up
on the Eastern seaboard.
F
or United Crane and Rigging, the
40 miles between Washington,
D.C. and Baltimore might as well
be a million miles.
“We have two yards, one serving each of
those areas,” says Jason Hawley, general
manager of United Crane & Rigging.
“Our yard in the D.C. area is experiencing
more work, more growth, more money.
We’ve been very busy with commercial
construction, much of that in federal
projects.”
Hawley wishes days were that busy at his
company’s Baltimore yard.
“Some Baltimore-area plants have shut
down,” he says. “The port is a little slower.
There’s less manufacturing. Some auto
work that used to be there is gone. There’s
also a feeling the area is not as friendly
with incentives as it needs to be. We
expect things to get better in Baltimore,
but it will take time.”
Hawley points out a startling difference
in the city’s employment opportunities.
“It’s not hard to find good workers in
Baltimore,” he says. “I have a stack of
resumes from well-qualified people on my
desk.”
It’s just the opposite 40 miles southwest
in the D.C. area. Hawley sees a constant
need for talented workers and equipment.
“We can’t hire a salesman in Baltimore to
cover D.C.,” Hawley says. “With constant
heavy congestion, the person would spend
four or five hours a day in traffic.”
The Kobelco dealer for D.C., Maryland
and some of Virginia, United Crane &
Rigging stays well-stocked with Kobelco
crawler cranes. It also relies on 12 tower
cranes and 20 construction elevators.
Mobile hydraulic cranes and rough-terrain
cranes are also in the fleet. For the rest of
2013, Hawley anticipates no slowdown in
the D.C. area as he hopes for acceleration
in Baltimore.
Sparking profits
KMX International and Pioneer Heavy
Haul have proved that both addition and
subtraction can spark profit. They expect
2013’s mid-year success to sustain itself
into 2014.
From its Reading, PA headquarters,
KMX stays busily engaged in specialized
transportation, exporting, warehousing
and related services. The company
specializes in collecting, packaging and
hauling global shipments to three Atlantic
seaboard ports.
Owner Jim Vitez has extended his
company by one giant step. KMX trucks
provide the services for a steel mill
erection in the Pittsburgh area.
Picking up
Jim Vitez, owner of KMX International,
says his company is providing the hauling
services for a new steel mill going up in
the Pittsburg area. The project requires as
many as 15 truckload deliveries daily.
United Crane & Rigging operates two
divisions, one in Washington D.C. and one
in Baltimore. Even though the facilities
are only 40 miles apart, the one in D.C.
has more work than the one in Baltimore,
although things are getting better.
