The Constellation Room at the World Trade Center was shipshape for a reception held by the Maryland Port Administration and the Containerization & Intermodal Institute. The party kicked off the Mid-Atlantic Trade Conference & Shippers Dialogue held in Baltimore each year for shipping companies that do business at the port.

The business at this get-together combined sipping and shipping. Among the 90 people enjoying cocktails and canapes while conversing about cargo: Harriet Sagel, event coordinator; Jim White, executive director of the MPA; Roy A. Schleicher, port marking director; Carole Graves, port director, U.S. Customs; John Capers, publisher for Pacific Shipper magazine; Melvin Jackson, manager for Maryland International Terminals; Skip Brown, CEO of Belts Corp.; and Dr. Hans Ludwig Beth, chairman of the port of Hamburg, Germany.