With dozens of longshoremen’s jobs in the balance, some of Maryland‘s most influential lawmakers are making urgent pleas to Gov. Wes Moore to keep a state-owned shipping pier open beyond the year’s end.

Canton Stevedoring has leased Pier 4 at the North Locust Point Marine Terminal since 2011, supplying essential road salt to Maryland and other states. But the pier needs millions of dollars worth of repairs and, with Canton Stevedoring’s lease expiring in December, the Moore administration is being pushed to make a decision over the long-term future of the site.

“The impending closure of this pier within the North Locust Point Terminal has the potential for irreversible impacts,” Senate President Bill Ferguson wrote in a May 1 letter to Moore.

Canton Stevedoring, which pays the state about $1.5 million annually for the Locust Point site, employs 67 union workers at Pier 4. Shipping plans are made months in advance, and without assurances that the pier will be open for business in 2026, companies may soon opt to route their deliveries elsewhere, jeopardizing Canton Stevedoring’s operations.

Ferguson, whose district includes the terminal, wrote that he‘s spoken multiple times with Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld and Port Administration Executive Director Jonathan Daniels, but that their attempts to help were insufficient.

“Your personal intervention is necessary,” Ferguson wrote to Moore, requesting an “urgent” meeting between himself, Canton Stevedoring executives and the head of the dockworkers’ union, International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333.

Del. Luke Clippinger and Morton Salt also wrote letters to Moore asking him to act.

The Moore administration won’t make a decision on the pier’s future without “real facts and information,” Carter Elliott IV, Moore‘s senior press secretary, wrote in an email. The state Department of Transportation will finish a report determining the cost of the repairs in the “next several weeks.” A 2020 state estimate determined that there was roughly $13 million in needed repairs.

“The administration will continue to work with Canton Stevedoring and ILA 333 on this critical issue,” Elliott wrote.

Canton Stevedoring executives have unsuccessfully sought a personal meeting with Moore since the beginning of the year. Shaina Hernandez, deputy chief of staff to Moore, met with company executives in mid-February when they expressed the desire to stay at the pier long-term and to find a solution for the needed repairs. Executives also sought to secure the needed improvements under the administration of Moore’s predecessor, Larry Hogan.

Moore has spoken extensively about the port’s importance to the economic health of Maryland and the region.

One of Moore‘s oft-repeated directives following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse was to look after those affected by the tragedy, including port workers. During his recent trip to Japan and South Korea, Moore said Baltimore‘s port workers would be among those who benefit from his efforts to expand trade and the state economy.

Salt is the lifeblood of Canton Stevedoring’s Locust Point business — annually handling over 400,000 tons of it, mostly for treating wintry roads — and Morton Salt’s director of supply chain for highways and chemicals wrote to Moore on May 5 to request the continued operation of the pier and to praise Canton Stevedoring’s efficiency. The pier is “the only one in the region that can ship nearly 20,000 tons [of salt] per day,” which is an operational necessity during severe winter weather, according to the letter.

Its location makes it an efficient and economic option for the company’s deliveries to governments in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., and it is “one of the most important ports” in Morton Salt’s national network, the Morton letter read.

“The imported road salt is essential to the safety of the State of Maryland‘s residents,” Ferguson wrote in his letter. The Senate president’s office declined to comment beyond the letter’s content.

Canton Stevedoring and the state have discussed extending their land lease into 2027, reaching an agreement in principle shortly after the February meeting with Hernandez. That would allow the company to transport cargo already on site after Dec. 31 — but, crucially, not import new shipments.

That has “capped” Canton Stevedoring’s ability to generate business, since it cannot guarantee that it can receive cargo beyond this year, Kassel said.

“To date, we have not received a lease extension that allows us to bring in any new ships or cargo past December 31, 2025 or received assurances that the Maryland Port Administration will participate in the repairs,” Tim Kassel, the company’s executive vice president, said in a statement Tuesday.

“We look forward to working with the Governor to resolve this issue in the best interest of the people of the State — we know the Governor understands the importance of growing small business in Maryland.”

The state was scheduled to inspect the North Locust Point pier this spring, according to minutes from a January meeting of the Maryland Port Commission. A previous inspection, the minutes said, found that the cost to repair “degrading pier structure” was $6.2 million in immediate work and $7 million to address other condemned sections.

Renovation efforts have the backing of the longshoremen’s union, with ILA Local 333 President Scott Cowan expressing his “strong support for the North Locust Point Reconstruction Project” in a letter sent to lawmakers in February. Cowan did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

Another letter, this one from Dels. Clippinger, Mark Edelson and Robbyn Lewis — all of whom represent the area around North Locust Point — was sent to Moore on May 12 requesting a meeting. So far, no meeting has been set.

“I am ready to meet whenever they are ready to meet,” Clippinger, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview Tuesday. “My understanding from the governor’s office is they will not set up a meeting until they know how much the pier is going to cost.”

The delegates said that an expired lease would affect plans for Sail250 — a weeklong 2026 event scheduled to be held at the harbor, including Pier 4, to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary.

Ferguson stressed the importance of sustaining shipping activity since port operations are “once again slowing,” a nod to what he described as President Donald Trump’s “dangerous and aimless international trade war.” The salt primarily comes from Chile and Egypt, countries that are currently facing relatively low tariffs and, thus, are less likely to decrease shipments to the U.S.

If Maryland does receive its salt from elsewhere, “an increased cost to taxpayers is an almost-certainty,” Ferguson wrote.

That point was echoed by Jerry Preston, who runs a trucking company. He wrote a letter in March to Daniels, the port’s executive director, advocating for repairs to the pier. If salt needs to be trucked in from elsewhere, it would be more costly, Preston said.

“It’s gonna have a ripple effect and it’s gonna be pretty substantial,” he said Tuesday.

Locust Point — a major port of entry for immigrants in the 19th century — today has five berths, with Pier 4 being the largest. Canton Stevedoring, founded in 1998, expanded into a previously unused portion of the Locust Point terminal in 2011 and now operates on 17 acres.

A 2017 article in The Port of Baltimore magazine highlighted Canton Stevedoring’s efficient operations. The company found its “niche in a historic maritime community,” the article said, and could turn around 700 truckloads of salt in 12 hours, or roughly one per minute.

“With a long-term lease on the North Locust Point property and a commitment to keeping pace with customer and community needs,” the 2017 article stated, “it’s a good fit.”