Phila. auto-finishing start-up a success, already needs room to grow

Cars, cars, everywhere, bumper to bumper on expansive lots below the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Philadelphia.

Nearly 23,500 shiny, new Hyundai and Kia autos have arrived since early August, and Philadelphia now boasts the largest auto-finishing operation on the East Coast.

And growing. The operation is scrambling for more space to park the flood of cars.

Close to 800 cars a day are prepped for dealer showrooms. To keep pace - 6,920 cars were on the ground Friday and ships arrive almost weekly - the auto lot at Pier 98 annex has added a second shift in the evening.

"With two shifts, we plan to process 825 cars a day on a regular basis," said Andy Vogt, director of operations for Global Auto Processing Services (GAPS), a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co.'s logistics affiliate.

"If we hit and maintain that number, then we will satisfy the current sales objectives for both Hyundai and Kia brands within the Northeastern region."

The arriving transport ships, resembling floating parking garages, are met by 150 members of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1291, who drive factory-new autos to four lots near the waterfront.

From there, 180 Teamster laborers take over fueling, washing, adding accessories, and a final inspection before the cars are loaded onto trucks headed to showrooms.

This month, a labor dispute threatened to derail the car deal, but it was ironed out after top brass from the Teamsters International and the Longshoremen's Association in New York conferred.

The issue was jurisdiction and turf. Local 1291 traditionally has handled all work at an old distillery lot, known as "Publicker," next to the Delaware River.

However, Hyundai's logistics affiliate, Glovis America Inc., expected Teamsters Local 107 to get the cars, after longshoremen drove them to Publicker.

James P. Hoffa, general president of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Richard P. Hughes, ILA president in New York, spoke by telephone, and Hoffa followed up with a Sept. 3 letter to Hughes.

"I was informed that these good jobs are in jeopardy of leaving Philadelphia," Hoffa wrote, adding that the "jurisdictional assertion" was "incorrect" and that the work was "properly covered" by the Teamsters' collective bargaining agreement.

In exchange, Hoffa pledged the support of Teamsters for the local ILA, which is losing 400,000 labor hours, equal to 200 to 225 jobs, because Del Monte Fresh Produce Co., starting Oct. 1, will shift its banana-shipping business out of Camden to a private terminal in Gloucester City, where workers earn less. Two hundred longshoremen picketed Tuesday outside Camden's Broadway Terminal, where a Del Monte fruit ship docked Monday.

Since August, after Hyundai consolidated its East Coast operations from ports in Baltimore and Newark, N.J., to Philadelphia, 10 ships laden with 23,342 cars have arrived.

The pressing need now is for more space to park cars, which do not leave the lots until dealers either sell them, or want them in showrooms.

"We've got a lot of business, and a lot of things to do to make this business work moving forward," Robert Blackburn, senior deputy executive director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, told the board recently.

"Within 30 days, we've gone from nothing to the largest auto-processing facility on the East Coast."

A Bellmawr developer, Philly Ro-Ro Partners, is looking on behalf of Hyundai at several parcels, including 9.5 acres owned by the Philadelphia Water Department immediately south of the Walt Whitman Bridge, 10.5 acres east of I-95, and 7.5 acres underneath the Walt Whitman Bridge.

But even this land will not be enough.

Port officials have discussed "preliminarily" leasing acres at the Navy Yard short-term to Philly Ro-Ro, which is "very attractive" if Philly Ro-Ro can also use Pier 122 to bring ships in, Blackburn said.

"We are interested in the Navy Yard, in Pier 122, and in Norfolk Southern's property immediately adjacent to Pier 122," said Ro-Ro partner Gerard McHugh.

Until final bids come in Monday for the proposed Southport Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia, any discussion of using Pier 122 is on hold, Blackburn said.

"Hopefully, the timing will be such that we'll know the intentions of the bidders on Southport relative to Pier 122 while we [the port authority] are taking over ownership of the acreage in the Navy Yard," Blackburn said.

Thomas Holt Jr., whose family runs Packer Avenue Marine Terminal where the cars come in, said the Teamster and ILA workforces "have done a great job." August was extremely busy, with more than 17,000 vehicles coming in, and in one week three vessels, back to back, he said.

"We have had very good reviews from the customers recently, saying that this has been the best start-up operation they have ever seen," Holt said.

"So far, labor has performed better than expected," confirmed McHugh. "It is going well."