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Trade Center tenants struggle to cope, count workers

An address at New York City's landmark World Trade Center towers used to be a status symbol for companies large and small throughout the world.

One day changed everything.

The list of companies and organizations struggling to get a handle on the number of employees lost in Tuesday's attacks that reduced the two towers into a fiery pile of rubble reads like a veritable who's who in finance and business. Some of the biggest foreign-based financial institutions had US offices there, as did US architectural firm Mancini Duffy, law firm Thacher, Proffitt & Wood, health insurance company Empire HealthChoice,

Meanwhile, scores of smaller companies, whose only address on record is the World Trade Center, appear to have totally vanished.

Some of the world's leading financial firms were among the hardest hit.

The world's largest insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc., which also owns Putnam Investment, said 700 workers out of 1,700 have not been accounted for.

Investment bank Keefe, Bruyette &Woods Inc. said on Wednesday that 69 of its employees were missing. Spokesman Neil Shapiro said the list of missing included co-chief executive Joseph Berry and David Berry (no relation), the firm's director of research.

A lot of people in the research department were missing, according to Keefe, Bruyette, which had 172 trading, research, investment banking and money management employees working at its headquarters on floors 88 and 89 of the south tower.

Leading investment bank Morgan Stanley had 3,500 employees in 25 floors, making it the largest tenant in the complex. Most of the workers were back-office, support and marketing staff, said Judy Hitchen, a company spokeswoman.

"It appears the vast majority" of Morgan Stanley's workers got out safely said chairman Philip Purcell. The firm would not provide details about those lost.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of largest issuers of bonds in New York City with headquarters in the World Trade Center, said more than 200 workers were unaccounted for, out of between 1,500 and 1,800.

The agency, which manages shipping, terminals, bridges, tunnels, airports and waterfront development and promotes regional economic growth, said the missing included 35 Port Authority police officers and commanders.

Still assessing damage

Investment manager Fred Alger said 38 of 55 employees working at the World Trade Center were unaccounted for. The company's president David Alger and many research analysts and portfolio managers were among those who had not yet been found. Fred Alger, brother of David, would take over day-to-day management of the company, which employs 235 people worldwide.

Leading financial services research firm Thompson Financial closed its headquarters at 195 Broadway, across the street from the World Trade Center, said spokesman Warren Breakstone. The company is still assessing damages and trying to track down a few employees, he said.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, which helps plan transport projects and improvements for the metropolitan area, said it had accounted for all but two of their 50 staff members.

Chicago-based Aon Corp., the world's No. 2 insurance broker, said late on Wednesday that the vast majority of its 1,100 employees in the World Trade Center had been reported safe.

International reverberation

The disaster's impact reverberated throughout the world.

A total of 18 companies based in China had offices in the World Trade Center, said He Wei-wen, the commercial director at the Chinese consulate in New York. Among them were the US subsidiaries of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China National Chemicals Import and Export Corporation (SinoChem), and the New York office of China International Trust & Investment Corp.

He said 13 of the companies had contacted the consulate, and had reported that their employees were safe. He declined to estimate how many employees were working for these companies.

Japan's Fuji Bank, a member of the world's largest banking group Mizuho Holdings, said 12 Japanese employees are missing and 113 safe. The bank said it has not yet confirmed the status of its 500 local employees.

Japan's Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, with about 20,000 employees worldwide, said a great majority of its 350 employees at One World Trade Center were accounted for.

Dai-Ichi has set emergency back-up facilities in New Jersey, with extra backup from Tokyo and London offices, a company spokesman said.

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