Our condolences go out to Mr. Mahoney’s family, friends, and colleagues.
A worker who died in a forklift accident at the Port of Camden on Tuesday has been identified as a Sicklerville resident and well-known longshoreman. Police did not officially release the victim’s name, but James Dugan, secretary of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1242, identified him as John Mahoney.
Mahoney was working on the Beckett Street Terminal around 10 a.m. when he was hit by a forklift and sustained multiple traumatic injuries. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Cooper University Hospital.
Dugan called him a “good guy” and a “hard worker.”
“We all knew him well; I knew his father, too,” Dugan said. “He worked in the waterfront for many years.”
Mahoney, who followed his father onto the docks, had been with Local 1242 for about 35 years. Dugan said he had a wife but no children.
The company’s president, Bob Palaima, said Mahoney was working as a pointer checker and was believed to have been hit while inside a large shed that holds unloaded items from vessels.