FACILITY'S CEO BOASTED ABOUT BETTER SECURITY

As the New York Container Terminal in Mariners Harbor was trumpeting
tightened security measures and enjoying an improved public image
from 2000 to 2003 -- when it was known as Howland Hook -- a cocaine
smuggling operation allegedly was under way at the site.

Federal agents yesterday announced 22 arrests in connection with the
cocaine, which they say traveled from Colombia through the 187-acre
Staten Island facility and ports in California.

One of the accused, Alejandro Colon, worked as a longshoreman at the
Island terminal until he retired in February. The 63-year-old
Brooklyn resident is being charged with conspiring to import the drugs.

Jim Devine, who took over as CEO of the facility in October 2001,
insisted yesterday that security at the site, where 1,500 containers
are imported daily, is at its peak. More frequent screenings of
cargo, tighter regulations and double-wired fences are a few examples
of improved safety, he said.

"It's a very safe, very wholesome environment. I would have my
daughter or my son work there," Devine said, emphasizing that only a
minute percentage of cargo was seized in the drug bust.

Over time, he successfully improved the terminal's dark image by
improving worker morale and emphasizing tough security standards. As
Devine was publicly making an effort to rectify the facility's
perception, he was privately helping federal authorities snag the
drug smugglers who are charged with importing at least 700 pounds of cocaine.

His comments yesterday were in keeping with the clean image the
facility began to portray when he took over four years ago.

"I hope you can tell from what we've been doing the last couple of
years that we're very much committed to making Howland Hook a class-A
container facility," Richard Larabee, a Port Authority director, told
the Advance in 2003. Just weeks before, police had arrested two
suspects trying to smuggle cocaine through the terminal.

Over the last five years, and particularly after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, executives at the once-embattled terminal boasted
about improved security.

The public remarks were made in an effort to boost the facility's
reputation after the FBI exposed its vulnerability to organized crime
and Gambino crime family leader Peter Gotti Jr. in 2002.

Devine maintained that this week's arrests will not mar the
reputation he has worked to build.

"Ninety-nine percent of our people are just good, hardworking people
who go to church and raise kids," he said. "It's just a damn shame
that ... there's a criminal element in our society, and that's
obviously going to manifest itself in our business as well."