JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES; CUSTOMS OFFICIAL GETS SOLO BILLING.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

There's a buzz of activity dockside as a platoon of forklifts scurry about, hauling crates of bananas fresh off the boat from Ecuador.

Nearby, three Filipino crewmen stand next to the imposing Dutch cargo ship, waiting for Christopher King, the sole U.S. Customs officer at the Port of Hueneme.

An affable and easygoing man of 51, King scans the customs declarations and asks what each of the crewmen is bringing ashore. After a quick search of their belongings, the trio hops an airport shuttle, the first leg of their trip home to the Philippines.

Unlike his brethren working at larger ports, King is a jack-of-all-trades. A typical day might find him examining automobile import documents, peering into a British armored personnel carrier purchased by a collector or conducting spot checks on imported fruit.

Or sometimes, he's just waiting for his next boat to come in.

``Cars and bananas - that's the nature of the port,'' King said. ``There are times when you're very busy. Then there are times when you're the Maytag repairman.''

BMWs, Volvos, Jaguars, Mazdas and Australian-built Mitsubishis bound for the Southern California car market all arrive through the Port of Hueneme, accounting for about 9 percent of autos imported through the West Coast, according to the Pacific Maritime Association.

While autos, fruit and wood pulp account for most of the port's shipping activity, it also gets a steady stream of unusual and one-of-a-kind vehicles - from rare sports cars to military tanks.

One of King's jobs is to ensure that imported goods, be they pineapples or tractors, are properly labeled.

``The job requires that I do many facets of the customs inspector's position, as opposed to the specialized duties at larger ports,'' said King, who has been a customs agent for 25 years, the last three at Port Hueneme. ``So I do a full gamut of operations that some inspectors may never get a chance to do.''

In August, for example, King inspected a Czechoslovakian-made Scud missile and launcher destined for a collector. Although the 37-foot, 5-ton missile system was not loaded with rocket fuel or armed with a warhead, it had not been rendered inoperable before coming into the country.

``It was still operational, which is a no-no,'' said U.S. Customs spokesman Pat Jones, the point man for information on the sensitive case, which is still under investigation.

When he's not intercepting Scuds, King also keeps an eye out for other contraband. Drug-smuggling through the port is rare, he said, possibly because incoming shipments of South and Central American fruit isn't assigned a final destination until it hits the docks, making it nearly impossible for would-be dealers to know where to pick up the narcotics.

In fact, the only drug case during King's tenure at Port of Hueneme involved a completely unsophisticated attempt by a crew member who tried to walk ashore carrying drugs.

Port of Hueneme is the fourth largest among California's 12 ports, last year handling 319 ships, said Cam Quarles, director of marketing for the Oxnard Harbor District.

That's a far cry from the 3,655 passing through Long Beach and the 2,569 ships that docked at the Port of Los Angeles. Customs has 156 agents assigned to the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports, reflecting their designation as the third-busiest operation in the world.

Although the Customs Service operates several one-man stations around the country, King runs the only one-person operation at a major port. And while he likes to describe himself as the Maytag man in reference to the ads' lonely appliance repairman, his is hardly the slowest customs station around.

``There is a one-hour-a-day, part-time employee in Avila Beach (in San Luis Obispo County). Customs pays the gentleman up there one hour per day to take care of whatever customs business might come his way,'' King said.

Customs violations at Port of Hueneme are few and far between. Once in a while, King will run across a stolen car destined for points overseas or mislabeled fruit shipments.

One of the best parts of the job - aside from pretty much being his own boss - is inspecting the variety of previously owned vehicles that go in and out of the port.

Someone's dream car - a 1984 Citroen - sits abandoned not far from a screaming yellow fire engine that once doused blazes in London. This is the end of the road for the Citroen, which was not built to U.S. specifications. The owner abandoned it at the dock rather than putting in a small fortune to make it legal. Its new owner, the U.S. Customs Service, will auction it off - provided the car heads overseas or is brought up to standards.

``It's a different mental attitude - working in L.A. County vs. working in Ventura County,'' said King, who took a pay cut to get the one-man position. ``I think people have more time to be pleasant in this atmosphere. This is a very comfortable, relaxed placed to be, and I'm happy to be here.''

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) As the only U.S. Customs official at Port of Hueneme, Christopher King inspects a box of Ecuadorean plantains at the port, California's fourth largest.

(2-3--Color) U.S. Customs Officer Christopher King makes his way to an Ecuadorean cargo ship, above, and inspects an imported vehicle, below.

Andy Holzman/Daily News