Glove plant expects steady business

A North Charleston manufacturing plant is bracing for a more steady production pace after its head office restructured it.

Workers at Salisbury Electrical Safety LLC, formerly North Safety Products, have started manufacturing rubber gloves that utility linemen wear to protect them from electrocution. The constant stream of orders will likely keep the facility's employment steady, said Jack Wilks, director of operations.

That's a change from when the plant previously made chemical-resistant gloves for various branches of the government. During that period, the number of employees needed for work changed constantly with the number of sales contracts the Chicago-based company was awarded. Company officials moved those manufacturing responsibilities to a plant located Upstate in Clover.

"This is going to be steady, commercial business," Wilks said of the new assignment. "So it's better in that (respect)."

Once the changes are in full swing, the Montague Avenue plant will employ about 30 people, Wilks estimated.

Hearing the call

IQor Inc. , a New York-based company that just opened a new call center in North Charleston, announced Friday that it was snapped up by a private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.

IQor's 3,500 workers at 12 U.S. locations, including its 360 in North Charleston, will now get paychecks from Guggenheim Investment Management, a global holding company with $10.6 billion in assets. GIM has also taken ownership of iQor's six international call centers, which also employ about 3,500 people

Though it did business abroad, iQor was a champion of the American worker, arguing that some of its clients' more complicated calls were best fielded stateside, even though that approach cost more.

The company's Lowcountry workers handled relatively complex calls, most involving DirecTV video services. IQor chief executive Vikas Kapoor said such calls are processed faster if the receiver is familiar with popular culture and American TV shows.

We'll see if GIM shares that philosophy. No doubt 360 people in North Charleston will be staying tuned.

Presidential visit

The first vessel of a new weekly Suez service announced by the State Ports Authority in May was scheduled to call in Charleston this past weekend.

The President Adams, operated by American President Lines, is the first container ship to call here as part of a new agreement with the New World Alliance shipping consortium, a partnership of major carriers that includes Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and Mitsui OSK Lines.

The new service links Charleston with Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent via the Suez Canal. Called the Suez Express, or SZX, the service will rotate eight vessels, each capable of carrying the equivalent of 4,000 to 4,500 20-foot-long shipping containers.

The service includes calls in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Kelang, Malaysia; and Singapore. While in Charleston, the ships will be serviced at the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant.

NWA's existing service, the Atlantic Pacific Express, or APX, has two weekly calls in Charleston and connects the port with Asia and northern Europe, bringing more than 175,000 20-foot containers annually.

The Suez deal increased NWA's Charleston presence by 50 percent, guaranteeing more than 150 vessel calls a year.

Get transported

The College of Charleston is set to begin another round of its Intermodal Transportation Professional Development Program. The class aims to give participants an in-depth look at all aspects of transportation and logistics as practiced in Charleston, according to the instructor, Dr. Kent Gourdin.

People already working in the field will get a look at the big picture, while anyone thinking of going into the business will get a detailed introduction. Each session is presented by a professional working in the area they discuss. There are four six-week sessions on such topics as the cargo move; the port; regulations, pricing and the law; and operations, carriers and shippers.

Classes start next Monday, Aug. 27. Registrations will be accepted until then. It meets Monday evenings from 7-9 and costs $495. For more information, call 953-5327 or e-mail Gourdin at gourdink@cofc.edu. There's also a Web site, www.cofc.edu/globallogistics.