Spotlight

Marcus E Jones / Shutterstock. com Andrea Cirillo Lopes / Shutterstock. com of West Coast marine terminal operator TraPac. During his time at Norfolk, Edwards oversaw more than $ 1 billion in capital spending that expanded the port’ s capacity. Thanks partly to the pandemic-era import surge, Virginia’ s container volumes have grown at an average annual rate of 5.7 % between 2021 and 2024.

Mobile taps top engineer to lead port

The Port of Mobile has chosen its chief engineer to lead the port as it looks to complete $ 700 million in capital improvements through 2027.

The Alabama Port Authority’ s board of directors appointed Douglas Otto as its new director and chief executive on Nov. 12. Otto will serve as director through March 2027 due to his previously planned retirement. He had been serving in the role on an interim basis since late August following the departure of previous CEO John Driscoll. Otto has been the port’ s chief engineering officer since 2024, taking that role two years after joining the port as a vice president of engineering. Otto’ s 17-month term as director will coincide with a slate of new and ongoing capital projects that Mobile hopes to complete.

Trump rolls back food tariffs

The Trump administration has exempted a wide-ranging list of food and agriculture imports from previously imposed tariffs as concerns grow that US consumers are seeing grocery costs rise. The move came via an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that ends the so-called reciprocal tariffs first announced in a separate executive order in April. At the time, Trump said those tariffs were required to redress trade imbalances that threatened US national security. The broad exemptions, effective retroactively to Nov. 13, cover common products such as beef, coffee, bananas and dozens of other agricultural and food products. Trump said he has been advised by officials to ease tariffs on those products, particularly on products not produced in the US. The White House has characterized the significant rollbacks as appropriate in the aftermath of several trade deals with key partners.

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