NORFOLK

The $450 million APM Terminals cargo facility that opened last July in Portsmouth does not pose a threat to the International Longshoremen's Association, the head of the dockworkers union said Thursday.

APM's facility is one of the world's most automated terminals, with computer-controlled cranes and other labor-saving equipment.

The Dutch terminal company "made every effort" to make sure ILA workers are doing the work, union President Richard P. Hughes Jr. said after a luncheon speech Thursday at the Virginia Maritime Association's International Trade Symposium.

Still, there are some jobs being done by non-ILA workers that the union wants its members doing, Hughes said. Hughes would not detail those positions but said he expected the issue to be worked out soon.

APM's Portsmouth terminal employs between 80 and 160 longshoremen daily, depending on how many ships are docked there, said APM spokeswoman Allison M. Enedy. There also are about 40 APM employees at the complex, off the Western Freeway.

In July, Hughes, a third-generation longshoreman, took the helm of the 65,000-member union, which represents dockworkers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

"It's still sometimes hard for me to believe that a kid from the Baltimore docks who went to work on the waterfront in 1955 and joined the ILA could someday be its president," Hughes said in his remarks at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel.

Before a crowd of about 350 port and transportation officials from along the East Coast, Hughes set out a tough but respectful stance. The ILA's labor contract expires Sept. 30, 2010, he said.

With all the money being invested in newer and bigger ships and terminals, "the ILA expects and will insist on being properly compensated for the contributions our rank and file has made toward building our industry," Hughes said.

Hughes took charge of the ILA while it still faces a federal civil racketeering lawsuit that alleges mob control of the union. The suit, filed in mid-2005, was dismissed in October but re-filed by federal prosecutors Dec. 31. It seeks to oust several union officials and place the ILA under a federal monitor.

Separately Thursday, the Maritime Association honored three people for their work involving the port at the group's annual banquet.

Charles "Chick" Rosemond, vice president of sales and marketing for Wyatt Transfer Inc., a Richmond-based trucking company, received the Distinguished Service Award.

Col. Dionysios Anninos, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers' Norfolk District, and Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, executive director of The Elizabeth River Project, a Portsmouth-based nonprofit group that is working to restore the Elizabeth River, were honored with Port Champion awards.

Gregory Richards, (757) 446-2599, gregory.richards@pilotonline.com