Port to get environmental affairs chief

The Port of Charleston is bringing a new green deckhand on board to keep watch over its growing raft of environmental initiatives.

The State Ports Authority, in approving a $160.4 million budget last week for its upcoming fiscal year, carved out some funds to fill its first-ever environmental affairs slot.

Bernie Groseclose, the SPA's chief executive, said the full-time hire — one of just a few new positions budgeted for the next 12 months — will be in charge of monitoring and coordinating the various environmental programs the maritime agency has waded into. He said the decision to create a green czar position in Charleston is "timely with our mitigation plan under way."

Indeed, the SPA has been pushing to draw more attention to its $12 million environmental mitigation plan, which the authority agreed to fund to help offset some of the negative effects of the $600 million shipping terminal it is building in North Charleston. The various concessions include a $1 million contribution toward the recent Morris Island purchase, $2.5 million for restoring oyster reefs and tidal marsh in Charleston Harbor and $4 million for community improvements such as job training and affordable housing.

In March, the SPA said it had entered into a partnership with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to reduce emissions at existing and future terminals. And just two weeks ago, the authority unveiled a public awareness campaign called "Pledge for Growth," challenging area employers to commit to one or more eco-friendly changes.

It all goes to show how times have changed for the shipping industry, which is coming under intense worldwide pressure to reduce emissions from vessels, trucks and equipment.

Bankruptcy bin

The personal property of a bankrupt local company that made concrete shelters for telecommunications equipment was set to be sold off piece by piece at auction in North Charleston's Stark Industrial Park this week to partially repay creditors.

But a single buyer is now looking at acquiring the whole kit and caboodle.

Mount Pleasant attorney Kevin Campbell, the court-appointed trustee in the case of Skywaves I Corp. , asked that the public sale scheduled for Tuesday at the company's Pace Street headquarters be canceled to allow him to negotiate a potential deal with an as-yet-unidentified private buyer.

Skywaves filed bankruptcy liquidation papers earlier this year after some work contracts were delayed and its funding was cut off, according to Campbell. A court filing shows that its assets and liabilities were roughly the same at slightly more $2 million.

Skywaves occupied the former Lockheed Martin Corp. plant off Azalea Drive. It bought the 18.6-acre property from the defense giant in 2004 for $1.9 million, and shortly thereafter flipped the plant for $3.2 million to Mount Pleasant-based FXM & Co. , which is a creditor in the bankruptcy and whose principal, former Charleston restaurateur Franz X. Meier, is listed as a Skywaves director.

Also fresh off the federal bankruptcy docket, Summerville-based Bellwright Industries Inc. got the all-clear last week to be sold for $2.9 million to a North Carolina company in a deal that's expected to preserve about 40 local jobs.

Bellwright makes highly precise machined parts for suppliers of axles, differentials and other vehicle components to the likes of General Motors. It ran into trouble when a major contract lapsed in 2004. More recently, other jobs began to dry up, while expenses — namely steel, freight and energy — skyrocketed.

Bellwright's new owner is Mid-State Machine Co. of Mount Ulla, N.C. According to documents and court testimony, Mid-State has agreed to maintain the Summerville operation and assume some of its unsecured obligations, including numerous machinery leases, about $46,000 in back wages and $48,100 in property taxes.

Reach John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.