J Michael Zachary is an internationally sought after maritime and port design consultant with more than 45 years of professional port planning, engineering and operational management experience. Mike has the innate understanding, honed through his years of experience, to plan and design maritime and rail intermodal projects- not from a pure engineering perspective but through the perspectives of the users and operators of the terminals and facilities.

Mr. Zachary has 10 years of public port authority experience as a senior level employee responsible for the planning and operational aspects of the Port; over 4 years of being exclusively focused on the shippers’ and carriers’ aspects; and more than 35 years of direct consulting experience for the planning, design and operational analyses of port, marine terminal and intermodal rail facilities. Mr. Zachary’s clients in this latter role consist of port authorities, terminal operators, ocean carriers, railroads, financial investors and logistics service providers.

Mr. Zachary has served 75 global seaports, 8 North American Class I railroads, 4 international railroads, 8 major ocean carriers, 12 global terminal operators, 105 shippers or logistics service providers, 2 air cargo carriers and more than 50 Federal, State and regional agencies responsible for moving freight resulting in his professional efforts being incorporated into over 250 individual terminals, port strategic plans and governmental planning reports as of December 2025. 

Mr. Zachary is a recent member of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Research Board (TRB) Freight Planning and Logistics Committee (Past Chairman-AT015) and the Ports and Harbors Committee (AW010). Mike served two terms on the U.S. Government’s COAC (Commercial Operations Advisory Committee for the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for the oversight of Customs and Border Protection for the facilitation of trade into and out of the United States) and continues to be instrumental in incorporating new and effective security requirements into terminal and supply chain security.

Mr. Zachary has earned AAPA’s prestigious Port Manager Certification.