A Special Place: ‘Twisty, Turny Path’ Led Rod Pickens to Baltimore
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BY DERON SNYDER (as published by Port of Baltimore Magazine)
Rod Pickens was a young teen when his family moved from Prince George’s County, Maryland, to an Anne Arundel County neighborhood that happened to have a boat slip. His dad purchased a used Hobie Cat to affix atop their Volkswagen Rabbit, and the family began heading to the dock for days of boating fun.
Pickens, Vice President of Equipment and Container Processing for Wallenius Wihelmsen, has fond memories of good times spent sailing and hanging out on beaches. Being close to the water produced a liberating feeling. But something else was nudging him, too.
“We had a lot of bay pilots in the neighborhood, the guys that bring the ships up the bay and know all the twists and turns of the channels,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to meet a few and they told me what they did. It was super interesting.”
Some started their careers by attending the Merchant Marine Academy, which sounded like a good idea to Pickens. So, off he went, envisioning a life at sea.
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF CAPTAINCY
Like many of his Academy classmates, Pickens planned to find employment as a seafarer and work his way up the command chain. But the job market didn’t cooperate in 1986, leading to “a twisty, turny path” to the Port of Baltimore.
“I never sailed because jobs were scarce,” he said. “So I went inland.”
His first job was running a dinner cruise/sightseeing boat out of Baltimore Harbor. Then he captained a 65-foot Hatteras that sailed on the Chesapeake Bay. “Living on somebody else’s million-dollar yacht and being in charge at 22 years old was fun,” he said.
His grandmother sent him an article about a new riverboat in West Virginia. He applied and landed the job, skippering a 1,200-passenger vessel on the Ohio River (where he met a waitress who’s now his wife of 35 years). A year later, Pickens declined an option to relocate to Iowa when the boat was sold and converted for gambling on the Mississippi River. He charted a new course and stayed in West Virginia, where his wife was a Marshall University student.
“I got into some marine construction project management — putting rip raps on riverbanks; putting in pipelines; running towboats and cranes; doing dredging for the Corps of Engineers — that kind of work,” he said.
But soon it was back to Maryland, when his mother passed away and he returned to help care for his dad. Pickens had to weigh three job offers in the same week.
“One was with the Defense Mapping Agency, one was with a barge company, and one was with Wallenius Wihelmsen,” he said. “I think I chose wisely, because I’ve been here nearly 28 years.”
A LEGACY IN BALTIMORE
He almost didn’t last one year.
Actually, Pickens was hired by Wallenius, which merged with Wilhelmsen six months later. With no seniority when the new firm reorganized, he was given a pink slip … until a supervisor created an opening by opting out.
Pickens began as a vessel supervisor, overseeing operations and longshoremen while ships were loaded and off-loaded at any hour, any day or night. He quickly landed a terminal job — much closer to a normal schedule for his growing family — and has worked in a series of roles since.
One of his proudest accomplishments is the seven years spent as General Manager of Mid-Atlantic Terminal. “We grew that from nothing to 65 acres on Dundalk,” he said. “Then I went to our sister company and processed brand-new vehicles.”
Today, as supervisor of 20 company sites across North America, Pickens’ role extends well beyond Maryland. But it all began in Baltimore, which holds “a special place” in his heart. He’s particularly fond of the relationships built along the way.
“Working with the International Longshoremen’s Association as we’ve grown Baltimore together — making quality our commodity — separates us from other ports,” he said. “The cargo handling and willingness to do a little extra for the customer generates so much business.”
Being part of that growth — helping grow the Dundalk Terminal operation from nothing to over 200 acres of processing and terminal operations — while developing managers and staff has been the most rewarding part of Pickens’ journey.
Clearly, Wallenius Wilhelmsen was the right choice for this would-be mariner.
“They give me plenty of latitude to make decisions based on my skill, knowledge and ability,” Pickens said. “In that way, I feel like I’m the captain of my own vessel.”
