Shipper Will Box Up HQ, Move to Long Beach

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Nautilus International Holding Corp. is bursting at the seams at its current home in Wilmington, so the stevedoring and terminal management company, which traces its history back more than 150 years, is building a headquarters in Long Beach’s Douglas Park to handle the growth that it expects to come from future acquisitions.

The parent company of four subsidiaries, including bulk terminal operator and stevedoring business Metro Ports, broke ground last month on a 40,000-square-foot office on 2.6 acres on the northeast corner of Worsham Avenue and Cover Street. Construction should be complete by December. Nautilus’ current headquarters is at 720 East E St.

The decision to move to the new city came as Nautilus reupped its contract with the Port of Long Beach, where it will continue to manage bulk cargo operations for the next 20 years, said Chief Executive Jim Callahan. Bulk cargo includes cement, coal, steel and anything else that isn’t shipped in cargo containers.

With the new office, Nautilus is setting up the infrastructure to handle anticipated growth, Callahan said. The new office will house about 80 employees, but it can hold more than 120, which will allow the company to expand its subsidiaries and handle additional work expected to come from future acquisitions.

“It’s part of our strategic plan to grow our company and a lot will be through acquisitions,” he said.

The new two-story office is just blocks from the Long Beach Airport, an important consideration for Nautilus executives who frequently travel among the company’s various locations. Its Metro Ports subsidiary alone has operations at 19 U.S. ports, including Long Beach.

Metro Ports, the oldest of Nautilus’ subsidiaries, started in Northern California during the Gold Rush of the 1850s. It moved to the L.A. area in 1923.

Other Nautilus subsidiaries include Metro Cruise, which operates cruise ship terminals; Metro Shore, which provides shuttle buses and other land-side services for cruise operators; and Metro Risk Management, which handles workers’ compensation claims on behalf of harbor-area employers.

Shutting Down

As Nautilus grows, another harbor-area business is closing down.

The Terminal Island facility of rail-car repair company United Industries Corp., a subsidiary of Peoria, Ill., manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc., will start closing down and laying off employees next month.

Caterpillar spokeswoman Barbara Cox said new rules handed down by rail industry trade group Association of American Railroads, specifically those related to how repair companies bill their customers, have made United’s repair services unprofitable.

“Our due diligence in analyzing these rule changes, coupled with others currently being considered by AAR, clearly put us in a position where we can no longer justify remaining a provider of these services at Terminal Island,” Cox said.

In a filing with state labor regulators, United Industries said it will be closing its facility at 710 Earle St., near Terminal Island’s Fish Harbor, and laying off all of its 136 employees starting around May 19.

Taiwan Rising

Taiwanese emigrants like living and doing businesses in Los Angeles County, and more might be setting up shop here in the coming years, according to a new report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The number of Taiwanese-owned businesses in the county has grown 30 percent over the past six years to 164, wrote international economist Ferdinando Guerra in the report, and that is likely to increase because trade between the two regions is expected to grow.

“Much of Taiwan’s trade is dependent upon its relationship with China, so it is trying to diversify their markets, and reach out to other top trading partners,” Guerra said.

In particular, he noted that the island nation has been trying to join the Trans Pacific Partnership, a proposed free-trade agreement among the United States, Canada, Japan and other Pacific Rim nations.

Taiwan is hoping to also form free-trade agreements with its other top trading partners, as 70 percent of its economy is dependent on exports, Guerra said. That would certainly benefit L.A. businesses, as the region is the hub for Taiwanese trade in the United States. In terms of two-way trade, Taiwan ranks as the L.A. area’s fourth-largest partner.

Taiwanese businesses also like the L.A. area because it has a broad economic base and lots of different types of businesses. Of significant importance, the report says, is the Taiwanese population here of 45,000, more than anywhere else in the United States.

Staff reporter Carol Lawrence can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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