After 18 years dealing coal, Brinley hangs up his hard hat

NEWPORT NEWS

Charlie Brinley wears many hats - communications director, personnel manager, financial officer, safety inspector, soccer patron.

During nearly 18 years at the Dominion Terminal Associates coal-export facility in Newport News, he's had many jobs, but just one title: president and chief operating officer.

He'll wear that hat for just two more months.

On Jan. 31, Brinley, 68, will retire his personalized hard hat and hand over leadership of the small coal terminal to Rick Cole, who began shadowing him in August after leaving his position as a coal salesman for Alabama-based Drummond Co. Inc.

"I have loved this business and the people I've gotten to know, not only inside here but the port community, customers" and the railroads, Brinley said. But "I'm old enough."

Brinley's retirement marks a turning point for the coal terminal, which opened at the mouth of the James River in 1984.

When he took the rei ns in 1991, the coal market spiked, bringing 18 million tons of coal through DTA that year, he said.

The next year, in February 1992, the terminal set a record for most coal loaded on one ship when it dumped 163,765 net tons onto the vessel Ormond, Brinley said.

Since then, the business has seen its ups and downs.

Exports began to fall off in the late '90s, eventually trickling to just 5 million to 8 million tons per year. That le d the terminal to lay off employees in 1999 for the first, and only, time in its history, Brinley said.

Business began to pick up again in August 2007, peaking this year. By the end of 2008, the terminal will have moved nearly 14 million tons of coal, Brinley said.

Cole steps in at an uncertain time for the coal industry. Economists predict that the market may cool down again in 2009.

"We had been expecting 18 million tons for 2009," Brinley said. "But this market... is different now and we probably don't have a very good handle on what the number will be."

Cole grew up in Princeton, W.Va., and worked in a mine to make money while attending Bluefield State College. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in mining engineering, he worked as an engineer and coal salesman for various companies, including Dominion Virginia Power, before coming to DTA.

"I spent really almost all my work career in the coal industry," he said. "When I started in college, the mining guys were all making a lot more money than the other guys in the other engineering programs, so I said, 'That's what I want to do.' "

Whatever the market brings, one thing's certain: Cole will have to become a "jack of all trades," Brinley said. "I never knew quite what each day would hold."

In addition to taking on responsibility for the facility and its employees, Cole also will inherit a legacy of giving back to the local community.

All of DTA's employees participated in this year's fund drive for the United Way, donating an average of nearly $500 each. The terminal also provides scholarship funds for college students through the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

And every year, DTA buys soccer balls, uniforms and all other necessities for the Newport News Inner City Soccer League, a free soccer program that Brinley helped start with the city and Operation Breaking Through around 1992.

"We have tried to be supportive of activities in the Southeast community here," he said. "There's just a lot of small things we do like that that add up."

Cole has a plan for how he'll lead the small business.

"I'm just going to have to follow behind the longtime DTA employees who very much already know what they need to do before I arrive," Cole said. "I need to try not to mess that situation up rather than try to fix it, thank goodness."

Even though business may be down next year, the terminal doesn't plan to lay off any of the employees it hired during the past year, Brinley said. Since fall 2007, DTA has grown from 60 to 87 employees, he said.

"In the coal-export business, you need to be cognizant of having enough employees to get you back up when the business surges," Brinley said. "It'll surge with almost no warning, and we could become the bottleneck."

After packing up the photos that decorate his office overlooking the James River, Brinley plans to spend his days fly-fishing, taking wildlife photos and spending time with his grandchildren. Beyond that, he hasn't figured out what retirement may hold for him, but he doesn't plan to take on any full-time work, he said.

He said he hopes he'll be remembered for running a business with integrity. But he shirks credit for any success DTA has seen.

"The credit goes to the people, and I'm sincere about that," Brinley said. "There's not a football coach that's won the Super Bowl. The players won the Super Bowl, and you're only as good as they are."

Kathy Adams, (757) 446-2583, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com