Long Beach : City Delegation Makes Trip to Japan to Deliver Award

A flock of Long Beach officials flew to Japan this week to present a port award to the president of a Japanese shipping company.

Four of the city’s five harbor commissioners are making the trip, along with two city councilmen and five port officials. It is one of the largest city contingents to go abroad on port business in several years.

“From a port point of view we’re delighted to have this many port commissioners and politicians,” said Paul Brown, the port’s assistant executive director and one of the few port executives to stay behind. “It means a lot to the Japanese.”

The group includes Councilmen Evan Anderson Braude and Jeffrey A. Kellogg, who is vice mayor, port Commissioners Alex Bellehumeur, Roy E. Hearrean, David Hauser and Carmen Perez, and port officials Steve Dillenbeck, Don Wylie, Richard Steinke, Richard Aschieris and Yvonne Avila.

The Honorary Port Pilot Award, an occasional award given in the past to prime ministers and ambassadors, will be presented Friday in Tokyo to the president of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., a longtime customer of the Long Beach port.

The port is paying for the trip expenses, including those of the councilmen but excluding those of any spouses accompanying officials. While in Asia, both Braude and Kellogg are making personal excursions, which they will pay for themselves, according to their aides. Kellogg and his wife are going to Hong Kong, and Braude and a companion are going to Thailand.

This weekend, another city councilman, Wallace Edgerton, is going to Vancouver, Canada, for four days to attend a Pacific Rim development conference. His trip also will be paid for by the port.