Maryland Port Administration gets permanent director from Port Everglades

The head of Port Everglades in Florida will lead the Maryland Port Administration starting next month, the state transportation secretary announced Friday.

Jonathan Daniels, director and CEO of the port in Broward County, Florida, and a 30-year veteran of port and economic development, will step in as executive director of the Maryland port Feb 5, state Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said.

The port administration, which manages the six state-owned marine terminals of the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, was chosen through a national recruitment process with an executive search committee and maritime executive search firm.

Former port administration director William P. Doyle, who was appointed by former Gov. Larry Hogan in 2020, abruptly resigned in June. Deputy Executive Director Brian Miller has overseen the agency as acting director since June.

“Jonathan’s strong experience leading major U.S. ports and his unique economic development background make him the perfect choice for the Port of Baltimore as we continue to advance significant projects that will grow business and increase job opportunities,” Wiedefeld said in a press release Friday.

Daniels led a $3 billion plan at Port Everglades to expand lines of business in containers, energy and cruise activity. That port near Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, has an economic impact of $33 billion and is the 13th busiest container port in the U.S., the busiest energy port in Florida and the third busiest cruise homeport in the world.

Before Port Everglads, Daniels served as executive director and CEO of the Mississippi State Port Authority, where he oversaw a $570 million expansion and reconstruction project. He also worked for the Port of Oswego in New York and the Eastern Maine Development Corp.

Daniels touted Baltimore’s port as “one of the top performing ports in the nation, with a great labor force and a very involved port community,” and said he looks forward to boosting business and jobs, and to “transformational projects,” such as the Howard Street Tunnel initiative. That expansion will allow trains with shipping containers stacked two-high to pass through the CSX-owned tunnel under downtown Baltimore, a key artery to and from the port.

Baltimore’s port ranks first in the nation for autos and light truck volume, roll-on/roll-off farm and construction machinery, and imported gypsum and supports about 15,300 direct jobs.

Daniels has a bachelor’s degree in political science from The Citadel and was a master of science candidate in maritime management at Maine Maritime Academy.

Doyle, former port director, led the port for nearly three years during a tumultuous time for the global supply chain as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted international trade. Baltimore’s port, however, saw significant growth as it avoided problems affecting larger and busier ports on the West Coast and elsewhere.

Three days before his resignation in June, Doyle was issued traffic citations after he was involved in a four-vehicle collision on Interstate 83, according to Maryland State Police, who said Doyle was operating a state-issued Jeep and crashed into a Ford pickup truck that had pulled onto the shoulder behind two other vehicles.

The crash caused a “chain reaction with the two other vehicles stopped in front of the Ford,” and Doyle left the scene but later called police, who met him at the crash site, police said. Nobody was injured in the collision.