BAY BRIDGE DELIVERS ON GOOD-PAYING JOBS PROMISE AT PORT

By Juan Montoya
I ran into my good friend Rick a few days ago.
On and off, he's worked as a bar tender, a musician, a longshoreman and just about every job he could find that required a strong back and at least some smarts.
He was happy, unlike the other times that I had run into him when he was in one of the many jobs he's held.
He was wearing a blue bandanna in the fashion of welders or roughnecks. He sported a deep tan.
"What are you up to now?" I asked him when he came up for air and stopped playing the eight-liner in the dark corners of the salon.
"I'm working at the port for a new company," he said. "They say they will eventually hire 300 people when we get done building their docks and slips for ships."
I asked him who they were and he answered, "Bay Bridge."
Now, having had a hand in convincing the commissioners of the Brownsville Navigation District that adding a fifth shipbreaking company over the objections of the four who monopolized the port would give the port a boost, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that one of my friends had been the beneficiary of my efforts.
'How are the treating you, Rick?" I asked.
"They're a good company," he said. "I showed up with dress boots and blue jean pants and after they heard I could operate a dozer and a front-end loader, they hired me on the spot. I didn't even go home to change. I'm working for them six days a week."
Rick said that, true to their word when they applies for a lease at the port, Bay Bridge's starting wage for its workers is $10 per hour. Its permanent workers have been told they will also be eligible for affordable health insurance and other benefits that includes an intensive course (paid by the company) on job-safety training.
When Bay Bridge first applied to the Port of Brownsville,the other four companies put up stiff resistance and attempted to convince the commissioners that four companies were enough. They said Bay Bridge could not possibly deliver on its promises, and that it was an unknown entity.
However, Bay Bridge – through recruiting local community and opinion leaders and through newspaper advertising – rebutted their claims and the commissioners, even though they did not lift the moratorium on ship breaking, allowed the company to lease.
The worldwide recession ensued, and the plans to construct their facilities were slowed by that. But the company continued paying its lease rent ($25,000 a year) to keep its hand in the game.
Now they're back. And if my friend Rick's experience gives us any indication of their intentions, they're here to stay.
Ship breaking began at the port in late 1960s. Eduardo Campirano, the port’s director and CEO, told the local daily that the industry produces $655,000 from its leases. Offshoots like other scrap metal businesses, the recyclers’ use of docks, rail cars and barges also add to the multiplier effect.
Ship breaking also employs a lot of people.
With Bay Bridge coming to the Port of Brownsville, it gains one of the only six certified "green" ship-breaking yards in the US. This contributed, its proponents said, to its success in bidding and obtaining vessels owned by the Navy and Maritime Administration for breaking up at its facility at Chesapeake, Virginia.
In June 2005 Adani Virginia Inc acquired 100% ownership interest of Bay Bridge Enterprises, marking the Adani Group's foray in the U.S. ship recycling market.
And just who are these new players on the block? A cursory check of their corporate websites indicates that the owners of Bay Bridge are no pushovers.
Adani Virginia Inc. is a 100% subsidiary of Adani Global FZE, Dubai and serves as the holding company for present and future U.S. operations of the group.
Adani Global FZE operates as an importer and exporter of ferrous & non ferrous scrap. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Adani Global FZE operates as a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd.
In its corporate website, Adani Enterprises Ltd. recently announced a $1.65 billion deal with the Indonesian government and its mining company PT Bukit Asam for setting up rail and port infrastructure in the island nation for sourcing coal to India.
It also sattes that Adani Group is a business behemoth based in India having a global footprint with interests in Infrastructure, Power, Global Trading, Logistics, Energy, Port & SEZ, Mining, Oil & Gas, Agri Business, FMCG products, Real Estate Development, Bunkering, et al.
Founded in 1988 with a capital of $500,000, Adani Enterprises Ltd. (formerly known as Adani Exports Ltd.) is today the flagship company of the Adani conglomerate which posted 260 billion in revenue in the previous financial year.
Welcome to Browntown, gentlemen.