Small co. handles wide array of ship repair work.

Byline: Amy Bernstein

Michael Moss was on his way to a business luncheon in downtown Baltimore one day when his beeper went off. It wasnt his boss, his broker or his attorney. It was a shipping agent with an urgent message: A Singapore oil tanker that had just arrived at the Clinton Street pier was leaking oil into the harbor. Could Moss take care of it right away?

At that moment, Moss didnt exactly run to the nearest phone booth and exchange his Clark Kent business suit for a cape. But he did drop everything and rush over to the vessel to inspect it before putting a team of divers on notice.

Fixing leaky oil tankers is just the tip of the iceberg for Moss, the 50-ish founder and driving force behind Moss Marine USA Inc., a shoestring of a business that handles a wide array of ship repair jobs for vessel owners and agents around the world out of a tiny, unmarked office on Key Highway.

Moss, a Skidmore College graduate with a lifelong love of boats and a knack for repairing engines, is an anomaly in the U.S. maritime market. He doesnt own a shipyard. He doesnt even rent a pier. In fact, he doesnt really have much of anything other than a one-room office crammed with seafaring memorabilia (an old ships compass, a ship steering wheel, chunks of rusted anchor chain), a shed and a small area out back for welding.

Moss didnt even hire an employee until his business was three years old, in 1997. And now, he carries just four people, including a boiler welder and turbine mechanic, on his payroll full-time.

Im a virtual company, Moss says.

Virtual or not, Moss has a tidy niche emergency ship repairs mostly to himself. The company takes in three to four jobs a week, nearly all of them last-minute calls. One day its inspecting an underwater rudder. Another day its repairing a hydraulic pipe on a hatch cover. Or reinforcing a deck. Or repairing faulty engine room fire equipment.

At Moss Marine, no two days or nights are alike.

So much of our business is performed after-hours, Moss says. July Fourth means nothing to the Japanese.

The work may not be glamorous and many of the jobs are small, a few thousand dollars at most but theres enough of it to generate $500,000 or more in gross revenues annually for the company.

Moreover, its a reliable niche, since most of the vessels berthing at Baltimores public and private piers are on a tight schedule and are willing to pay a premium for quick turnaround on repairs. Often, the pressure is intense. Many ships fail Coast Guard safety inspections and cannot leave until the necessary repair and inspections are completed.

They say to me, Do whatever you can to fix this thing before the ship sails or itll cost me $15,000 a day, says Moss.

The companys small size is a distinct advantage in this regard, since it enables Moss to take jobs on the fly, complete them quickly and handle creditors all over the world. He calls on specialist around Baltimore for key jobs ...