Member Feature: Jerry Jerdine, CPP, MBA
Jerry Jerdine’s involvement in the liquid terminal industry began when he was hired at Ergon, Inc. as a Security Specialist shortly after the enactment of the 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act to provide physical and program security support to the company’s refineries, petrochemical terminals, marine operations and trucking terminals. His role also included managing federal grants that were funded to support improving physical security infrastructure at maritime facilities and vessel operations.
Jerdine’s journey with Ergon has led him to his current role as a Corporate EHSS Systems and Security Officer, where he finds enjoyment in a variety of aspects of his day-to-day responsibilities.
“The best part of my job is both meeting and engaging the people we support internally and externally, and seeing the final results when deliver corporate support services,” Jerdine said. “Our company does a wonderful job selecting people with good character who want to do what is right. It makes it easy to serve and support their efforts.”
Jerdine believes that placing safety at the heart of the work the industry does is the best of best practices.
“This ensures employees, contractors, customers and others can enjoy the benefits our industry provides,” he said, noting additional industry best practices include sharing ideas with others and continuing to improve and innovate. “Customers generally make it clear what they want or need. Our liquid terminal industry has listened repeatedly, allowing us to grow and keep up with the demand.”
Innovation and growth are two areas in which Jerdine has seen the industry evolve over the course of his career.
“Several liquid terminal companies have improved upon efficient delivery of products, while others have expanded their footprints and tremendously increased their terminal capacity,” Jerdine explained, adding that in addition, technology has aided in improving safety, security and helps to protect the environment. “Unmanned aerial systems or ‘drones’ have helped with above ground tank inspections. This saves time, improves cost-efficiency, and reduces safety risk associated with multiple employees or contractors mobilizing and climbing tanks to inspect them.”
These drones, Jerdine says, also help with security patrols and real-time camera monitoring of facilities.
“Forward-looking infrared or FLIR camera advancements aid thermal inspections to assess mechanical integrity of above-ground storage tanks and associated piping,” he said. “Tank level monitoring systems have optimized their ability to accurately detect liquid levels to help prevent overfills or roof landings. Mobile devices with intrinsically safe applications have improved real-time safety observations and materiel inspections in tank storage areas.”
Jerdine notes he’s also seen quite a bit of federal and state regulatory impacts, which have passed on additional costs to liquid terminal companies.
“In spite of this, our industry remained resilient and compliant with the requirements,” he said, sharing some industry predictions for the future. “The next five to 10 years will likely reveal a heavy focus on government-influence from the green energy movement and demands to reduce fossil fuels. This could threaten certain liquid terminal operators by constraining their ability to transfer, store and handle products. These operators will have to diversify operations.”
Jerdine predicts that there will also be a gradual introduction of the next generation of industry employees and leadership, as the current ones will retire out.
“Cybersecurity and environmental activists will likely continue to challenge industry,” he said. “Companies will continue to innovate and likely work to better protect assets and operations from regulatory impacts. In 50 years, there will be a significant decline in the quantity of terminals dedicated to petrochemicals, driven by carbon-neutrality. These will have converted to alternative fuel storage sites or shift to other liquids.”
According to Jerdine, cybersecurity threats are likely the biggest challenge for the liquid terminal industry at the moment.
“From industrial espionage, to independent malicious activity, to state-sponsored adversaries, we face a real hurdle now and into the future within the cyber domain,” he explained. “Further, there seems [to be] an unfilled gap in the acknowledgement of real cyber vulnerabilities in industry. We all witnessed and were in truth impacted by recent cyber attacks on industry. More attacks are likely, but we can and must be ready to successfully defend against them.”
Regardless of challenges, Jerdine believes that opportunities abound in the liquid terminal industry.
“Someone starting as a site level operator can work their way to become a district manager or even president of the company,” Jerdine said. “Liquid terminals are essential elements of the logistics supply chain to delivery and manufacture of life sustaining products. Any role serving in a liquid terminal company supports our lifestyle.”
He suggests that anyone starting with a liquid terminal company should learn as much as possible about the people involved in the process and their various roles.
“I would encourage them to learn and diligently study to understand how and where their company fits in the liquid terminal marketplace,” Jerdine said. “Everyone involved in liquid terminals is (and their families are) eventually a customer; do the best possible job to help the company and industry innovate and improve on quality, safety and sustainability.”
For over three years, Jerdine has served as chair/co-chair of ILTA’s EHSS Security Committee.
“My favorite thing about membership [with ILTA] is regularly engaging in dialogue and exchanging ideas with the network of friends from different member companies on regulatory compliance, techniques to improve safety, bolster security and better protect the environment,” he said. “ILTA is a great member organization and I encourage anyone in our industry to engage in it.”
Outside of the workplace, Jerdine serves on the board of Sons of the King, a ministry to help underprivileged kids in the Jackson, Mississippi community. It’s an opportunity he says has been a blessing. Jerdine, who is very much interested in technological innovations and people, can also be found playing guitar live, playing chess with his son and watching good movies.