WASHINGTON: Long Beach port officials picked an interim top executive to replace CEO Jon Slangerup, who announced his resignation earlier this month. Duane Kenagy, an engineer who came to the port in 2014 to oversee some of the port’s largest capital projects, will serve as CEO beginning Oct. 31 when Slangerup leaves. Lori Ann Guzmán, president of the Board of Harbor Commissioners, said in a statement that Kenagy is “highly respected by all of the commissioners, very well regarded in our industry, and well-liked by the port staff.”
The full board, set to meet Wednesday at 6 p.m., must still give final approval to Kenagy’s appointment. Kenagy, who will earn $275,000 in the interim position, becomes the fifth person to head the nation’s second busiest port since 2011. Kenagy and the commission stated in a press release that he would not be a candidate for the permanent appointment.
“I’m looking forward to working with the Board of Harbor Commissioners, our tenants and customers, and the talented team here at the Port of Long Beach to continue our strong tradition of service and innovation,” Kenagy stated in a written statement. “I am fully committed to helping this great organization transition to the new chief executive at the conclusion of the Board’s search.”
Kenagy came to the port in 2014 from engineer consulting firm Moffatt & Nicol. He was appointed by Slangerup to rein in the port’s nearly $4.5 billion capital plan that included two of the port’s biggest projects: the Gerald Desmond Bridge and the Middle Harbor terminal. The cost of the bridge, originally budgeted at $950 million in 2010, ballooned to $1.5 billion due mostly to the tangle of oil wells workers found at the construction site.
Among the issues Kenagy will contend with when he takes the helm: competition from the newly expanded Panama Canal, which opens up alternative shipping routes into the United States market; recent financial turmoil in the shipping industry, which is estimated by analysts to lose $5 billion this year; and the recent bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Co., which has a financial stake in the local port’s largest terminal.
Beyond that, the port saw import volume decline 10 percent last month compared to the previous August, just as the holiday season begins. Overall imports in Long Beach are down 2.6 percent this year. Slangerup, who had a three-year contract, will become the head of Mxi Technologies, a Canadian aviation software company. The last time the port had a vacancy in its top post, it took more than one year to name a permanent leader. The board has been meeting behind closed doors to find a temporary replacement for Slangerup. In its announcement of Kenagy’s proposed promotion, Guzman said the board will issue a bid to search for the next chief executive this week.
