Bulk-Loader Deal With Kaiser OKd by Port Panel

A controversial plan for the Port of Los Angeles to pay one of its major tenants up to $6 million for coal exporting equipment--at a 10% profit for the tenant--was approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners.

The board voted 3 to 2 to approve the deal between the port and Kaiser International Corp., which is buying a coal bulk loader from the Port of Portland, Ore., for the express purpose of selling it to the Los Angeles Harbor Department.

Critics contended that it would have been cheaper for the port to purchase the equipment directly from the Portland facility and bypass Kaiser.

They complained that Kaiser, which already runs the port’s coal-exporting operation, will earn a “middleman profit” from the contract--which was not put out to competitive bid. They also said that Kaiser could achieve an unfair advantage over its competitors if the port should expand its bulk-loading operations.

The harshest critic of the arrangement is Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.

“I think it’s highly irregular,” Flores said. “It certainly gives all the appearance of being a deal put together to benefit Kaiser. . . . If the port wants (the bulk loader), they should buy it directly.”

Both port officials and Kaiser President Richard Holdaway have denied Flores’ charges.

The commission’s approval came one month after the plan failed to pass because of a tie vote.

Commissioner Robert Rados, who was absent from last month’s meeting, cast the swing vote Wednesday, saying he thinks the port needs the equipment.

The commissioners who voted against the contract--Jun Mori and Ronald Lushing--said they did so only because the port is buying the equipment for a project that has not yet received commission approval.