There’s a sea change under way at the Port of Long Beach.

After 14 years under the leadership of career civil servant Richard Steinke, the port is ready to set sail under a new executive director who spent decades in the shipping industry.

J. Christopher Lytle, who came to the port in 2006 and currently serves as deputy executive director, has a resume that includes stints overseeing port operations for big international shippers CMA CGM and Maersk Line.

Thanks to that background, Lytle said he understands the concerns of businesses in a way other port leaders haven’t.

“With my experience, obviously I’m going to see something a little differently than Dick sees it,” Lytle said. “I can understand some of the financial hardships some of these liner companies are going through right now. I understand what’s driving these companies.”

The trucking companies, shipping companies and terminal operators at the port say they have the utmost respect for Steinke, who rose through the port ranks over 21 years in Long Beach and got his start as an administrator at a Denver airport. But they’re also upbeat about the appointment of a longtime private-industry veteran, saying they believe Lytle knows the issues they face, from lower shipping rates and slow cargo growth to traffic congestion.

“Chris does have a unique ability to understand the industry from an insider’s point of view,” said Alex Cherin, a consultant for the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents port trucking firms. “I hope that will manifest itself in some of the port’s policy-making decisions.”

Full plate

The Long Beach Harbor Commission approved Lytle’s promotion last week. He started at the port in 2006 as managing director of trade and port operations, but before that his entire career was in the private shipping industry.

While studying business administration at Central Washington University, he took a job as a warehouse worker for Sea-Land Service Inc., the company that pioneered containerized shipping.

Other than a stint as an infantry lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971, he would work for Sea-Land until 1999, eventually becoming general manger of West Coast port operations. He later worked for Maersk, which acquired most of Sea-Land, at a port in Oman, and for P&O Ports, managing that company’s East Coast operations.

Lytle will take over as executive director Jan. 1 and inherit a port that is in the middle of a massive set of upgrades and infrastructure projects worth about $4.4 billion.

Those projects include turning two older shipping terminals into a single modern terminal called Middle Harbor, replacing the Gerald Desmond Bridge and building a container terminal at the port’s Pier S.

Shippers and terminal operators support those projects, but they don’t want to deal with the delays or be on the hook for the kinds of cost increases that often accompany public-works projects. If the projects come in over budget and port traffic doesn’t increase enough to make up the difference, it could mean higher fees or increased rent for port tenants. Lytle said getting projects done on time and within budget is a priority.

“It’s really at the top of our list,” he said. “That helps the terminal operators stay competitive. It’s a huge issue for them.”

For their part, trucking companies’ chief concern is getting goods in and out of the port. Cherin said he hopes the port will focus more on reducing so-called turn times – the amount of time it takes truckers to pick up and drop off cargo.

Lytle said that’s an issue he has already worked on as deputy executive director, but he also said it’s an issue he thinks industry should help solve.

“I have brought together the trucking interests, cargo interests, terminal interests. And we sat down and worked out solutions,” he said. “I don’t want to call people together, sit them down and tell them how it’s going to be. The people who know are the truckers and the terminal operators.”

Like his predecessor, Lytle will have to deal with environmental groups who continue to challenge many port projects. Despite having plenty of industry experience, he acknowledged that working with environmentalists was a new experience when he came to the port. But he said he is committed to the port’s Clean Air Action Plan, including the Clean Truck Program, both of which are hugely important to the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups.

“We’re not backing off in our efforts to clean the air and water. I’ve become educated, I understand it. And what I’ve seen is that shippers have gone through the same process,” he said. “Early on, you’d hear shippers saying, ‘I don’t need this extra cost,’ and, ‘Why should I pay for that?’ But now it’s a very different scenario.”