R. Kenneth Johns to Receive 2011 Connie Award from Containerization & Intermodal Institute

NEWARK, N.J. (Oct. 11, 2011) - The Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII) will present the 2011 Connie Award to Robert Kenneth (Ken) Johns, former president of Sea-Land Service Inc. for his significant influence in containerization in worldwide trade and transportation. The Connie Awards luncheon will be held Monday, December 5 at The Newark (NJ) Club.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented to Stanley Sher, a maritime attorney in Washington D.C., who has participated in virtually every major legislative initiative and judicial proceeding affecting the regulatory and competition laws governing international shipping in recent history.

In a career lasting more than 50 years, Ken Johns is universally recognized as a leader of the international containerized ocean shipping industry, said Allen Clifford, CII president. Today, the majority of all international trade is transported via the system of containerized ocean shipping that Johns was a key participant in developing from its very beginning. His more recent work in innovative port consultation has broadened his contributions to our industry.

Mr. Johns served as Sea-Land's president and chief operating officer from 1979-87. Under Johns' leadership, Sea-Land prospered as one of the world's largest, most innovative and successful transportation companies. He joined Sea-Land in 1957 when it was a then-newly organized company in Mobile, Alabama, founded by Malcom McLean. Mr. Johns worked his way through various levels of company management relocating from Mobile to Tampa to Jacksonville to New Orleans and ultimately to New Jersey.

Following his retirement, Ken Johns founded The Hampshire Management Group, Inc., of which he serves as chairman and chief executive officer. The company has been involved in numerous innovative and successful businesses that primarily serve the ocean shipping industry, including, among others: Network America Lines, Inc. (international ocean shipping specializing in trade with the former Soviet Union), Oiltest, Inc. (oil, petrochemical and marine fuel testing and inspection services) and R. K. Johns & Associates, Inc. (maritime business consulting).

In 2001, Mr. Johns was inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame. He also received Auburn University's Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed upon an alumnus by the University. He is a Director of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, a past Chairman of the National Maritime Council and a Director of the McLean Container Center.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is tendered to those who have not been operationally involved in transportation but have made contributions in support businesses. Stanley Sher is a founding partner of Sher & Blackwell, which joined Cozen O'Connor in 2010. Stan represents international ocean carriers as well as other companies before federal agencies, the courts, and Congress. Before founding Sher & Blackwell in 1991, Mr. Sher spent 30 years in private law practice in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Sher spearheaded industry-wide negotiations on shipping law reform that led to the passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998. He previously represented a large coalition of ocean carriers before Congress during its review and passage of the Shipping Act of 1984, and was selected by the Federal Maritime Commission to serve on the federal advisory committee that reviewed the success of that law. Over the past 40 years, Mr. Sher has participated in virtually every major legislative initiative and judicial proceeding affecting the regulatory and competition laws governing international shipping. Mr. Sher is also an inductee into the International Maritime Hall of Fame in 2009.

In addition to the Connie Awards, CII will carry out its industry education mission by presenting scholarships to maritime academy cadets. This includes awarding the Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarships to midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, funded and managed by Crowley Maritime Corp.; the New York Container Terminal Scholarship to a midshipman at the SUNY Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, funded and managed by New York Container Terminal; the CII Scholarship, which is funded by Connie proceeds and is managed by CII; and a BSY Associates Scholarship to a college student studying logistics, which is funded by BSY Associates, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. Other companies may opt to sponsor scholarships for as little as $1,000.

CII is dedicated to promoting the international intermodal industry in education outreach. Scholarship opportunities, tickets and sponsorships are available from Barbara Yeninas, Executive Director, at (732) 817-9131 or execdir@containerization.org.

About CII

Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII), a non-profit organization founded in 1960, promotes industry awareness, preserves the history of intermodalism, and engages scholarly interest in the field by organizing educational conferences and seminars, serving as an information resource, providing networking opportunities, offering career guidance, arranging internships and facilitating scholarships. For more information, visit www.containerization.org