This was far from an everyday, cattle-lassoing “rodeo.”
At the Port of Baltimore?s 12th annual Roll On/Roll Off Rodeo on Wednesday, there weren?t horses and bulls, but there were massive tractors, excavators, man lifts and semi trucks roaming a large port lot.
Roll on/roll off ? “ro/ro” for short ? is any cargo that can be driven on and off a ship. More than 200 longshoreman learned to operate the large, multiton pieces of farm and construction equipment during the training exercises Tuesday and Wednesday.
The longshoremen learned how to start and operate more than 20 vehicles distributed by John Deere & Co., CNH, AGCO and other cargo manufacturers.
“It might seem like a lot?s going on, but this is real life,” Bill Reeve, safety training manager for the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, said as he watched the heavy machinery in action. “This is what the longshoremen deal with on the port.”
The Port of Baltimore handles more ro/ro cargo than any other U.S. port, according to the Maryland Port Administration.
“This is big money to us,” said Reeve, noting that most of the vehicles cost $300,000 to $500,000. “This is our livelihood. If we lost a contract like John Deere, we?d be in trouble.”
Standing on a man lift, used to lift workers and materials at construction sites, Marty Warrick, district service manager for manufacturer JLG, helped Randallstown resident Samuel Ware operate the machine.
“From our perspective, the guys need to know how to operate the machinery and get it safely on the boat,” Warrick said.
Ware has been working at the port for about 15 years, but he said it?s always good to know how to operate as many pieces of equipment as possible.
“Safety is the big thing,” Ware said. “That?s what it?s all about.”
Jon Hume, product specialist for CASE Construction, watched longshoremen operate an excavator and drive the machine up a ramp as if they were loading the equipment on a boat.
“All of these machines have different controls,” Hume said, “but as long as you?re careful, you?ll be all right.”
