THE PORTOF HOUSTON

March /April 2007

Intermodal: How the Port Moves the Goods!

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Contents

10 32 Keep On Trucking Tough competitive business

34 Houston Ship Channel an Important Part of Intermodal Network

38 Houston Pilots: Serving as Partners of the Port

40 Barbours Cut Still a mainstay of container activity

To view The Port of Houston Magazine in Spanish, please visit www.portofhouston.com

COVER STORY

March/April 2007

A bi-monthly publication.

14 Steel-fortified Diet Leads PHA to Unprecedented Growth in ’06

18 Lanier on Intermodalism Where vision and

pragmatism intersect

20 Emmett Looks at Big Transportation Picture in New Appointment

24 Safe and Secure A transportation advocate: U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee

26 Panama Canal Expansion Reinforces Waterway’s Resilience 29 PHA Chairman Emeritus Holmes Brings Expertise to Texas Transportation Commission 30 Clean Feat

Going beyond for a cleaner fleet

FEATURES

Intermodal: How the Port Moves the Goods!

4 A Message from the Executive Director H. Thomas Kornegay, P.E., P.P.M.

6 The Manifest PHA news highlights

9 Port People Delivering the Goods

42 Business Connections Baytown-Area/West

Chambers County Economic Development Foundation

44 Spotlight on Small Business Sunrise Delivery Inc.

IN EVERY ISSUE

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James T. EdmondsChairman

James W. Fonteno, Jr. Commissioner

Jimmy A. BurkeCommissioner

Elyse LanierCommissioner

Janiece LongoriaCommissioner

Steve PhelpsCommissioner

Kase L. LawalCommissioner

Executive Office Port of Houston Authority111 East Loop North P.O. Box 2562 Houston, TX 77252-2562 Phone: 713-670-2400 Fax: 713-670-2429

Executive Director H. Thomas Kornegay

Managing Director Wade M. Battles

Director of Trade Development John P. Horan

General Counsel Erik A. Eriksson

Director of Finance and Administration James O. Eldridge

Director of Facilities James B. Jackson

Director of Public Affairs Argentina M. James

Director of Operations Jimmy M. Jamison

Director of Planning and Environment Charlie Jenkins

Director of Small Business Development Gilda Ramirez

Harris County Auditor Barbara J. Schott

Field Offices New YorkJack Wojewnik 1650 Sycamore Avenue, Suite 23 Bohemia, NY 11716 Phone: 631-244-3677 Fax: 631-244-3757

South AmericaArturo Gamez Resd. Prado Royal P.H.Ave. Ppl. Lomas de Prados del EsteCaracas 1080, Venezuela Tel: 58-212-976-8813Fax: 1-281-754-4647E-mail: agamez@poha.com

Port of Houston Magazine’s editorial staff: Argentina James, director of public affairs • Maggi Stewart, senior publications specialist • Edwin Henry, publications specialist • David Bray, photographer • Chris Kuhlman, photographer • Esther de Ipolyi, freelance writer • Gilbreath Communications, Inc., design and production.

This publication is not copyrighted and permission is given for the reproduction or use of any original materials, provided credit is given to the Port of Houston Authority. Additional information, address changes, extra copies, or advertising specifications may be obtained by writing to the Port of Houston Magazine.

The Port of Houston Magazine is published by the Port of Houston Authority, P.O. Box 2562, Houston, Texas 77252-2562, and is distributed free to maritime, industrial and transportation interests in the United States and foreign countries.

Visit the Port of Houston online

www.portofhouston.com

THE PORT OF HOUSTON

AUTHORIT Y

John C. Cuttino (Brazil Representative) Av. Brigadeiro Faria Lima, 3729, 5 andar Sao Paulo, SP Brazil CEP: 04538-905 Tel: 55 (11) 3323-5878 Tel. +55 (11) 3323-5878 Fax +55 (11) 3323-5916 Houston Access (832) 239-5076 email: jcuttino@poha.com

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Transportation

Coordination among air, marine, highway and rail transportation was vital to the Port of Houston Authority’s ability to move 33.26 million tons of cargo across its wharves last year. Import steel – the leader in 2006 with 5.39 million tons — spurred port authority activity, marking the seventh consecutive year of PHA revenue growth.

PHA operating revenue more than doubled over the last decade and container throughput measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) increased 70 percent over the same period. I know of few companies — even in the private sector – that can claim that kind of performance.

The Port Delivers Via Ship, Truck, Rail and CarDelivering the goods to market can’t be done without the navigational waterways. Last year, 3,511 vessels and 4,278 barges called at PHA terminals. As the dominant container port in the U.S. Gulf with the two most modern container cargo terminals in the region, PHA will be delivering even more with the completion of the planned Panama Canal expansion.

H. Thomas Kornegay, P.E., P.P.M.A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The cover photo collage of a ship, a railcar and

a truck illustrates the important connection

between transportation and the Port of Houston

Authority. In fact, if you look closely at the word

transportation, you can see it would not be the

same without the “port” that is at its center.

The highways are also an integral part of the intermo-dal system. More than one million trucks annually roll in and out of PHA terminals. And trucking companies are enjoying a booming business despite rising fuel costs and increased competition.

The Port Terminal Railway Association’s 150-mile network of railroad tracks facilitate the travel of about 600,000 railcars yearly while contributing to cleaner air.

PTRA’s expansion was supported in part by federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds to get more vehi-cles off the road through non-highway-related projects.

The port continues to deliver in the name of environ-mental quality. On its way to achieving marine industry recognition as a “Model Port” in environmental compliance, 75 percent of the PHA’s on-road fleet is now composed of super-ultra-low, ultra-low or low-emission vehicles.

The Port Delivers “Simply the Best” IAPH Conference I’m proud to announce that this month, Houston is hosting the 25th International Association of Ports and Harbors World Ports Conference. And not just because I currently serve as the organization’s president. The IAPH conference in Houston will be simply the best venue for the world’s maritime industry leaders to address the enor-mous challenges and opportunities we face.

At the conference, discussions will focus on such criti-cal areas as globalization of world economy and its impact on ports, port security and risk management, challenges to port environment, ports adapting to future business opportunities, logistics infrastructure and port strategies, and new technological innovations for port operations, building the strategic framework that is critical to the ongoing success of our global port operations.

It’s been 30 years since this city hosted an IAPH con-ference, held at the old Shamrock Hotel. This is an espe-cially poignant moment for me since I attended parts of that conference, and was involved in the dedication of the then-new Barbours Cut Container Terminal, now a veteran structure undergoing improvements. As part of the port’s bicentennial project in 1977, a series of paint-ings was commissioned for the event, including one of the BCT depicted in a “futuristic” 2001. At that time, we sealed a time capsule with the achievements of the day. Now, we’re opening it up and revealing the contents. And we’ve created a new one with symbols of our current accomplishments. So much progress has been made in the last three decades. Just imagine what we can do in the next 30 years! ■

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p h a n e w s h i g h l i g h t sTHE MANIFEST

THOMPSON NAMED ASSISTANT POLICE CHIEF

Gilbert Thompson, whose experience in law enforcement and security work spans three decades, has been named assistant chief of the Port of Houston Authority Police Department.

Thompson, 56, is a Chicago native who has lived in Houston since 1979. He worked private security for two years before joining the Missouri City Police Department, where he spent eight years working traffic, patrol and narcotics.

In 1989, he launched his own private secu-rity firm, Thompson Security, which he ran for

12 years. He joined the Port Police in August 2006.

Thompson holds a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Houston and a bachelor of science degree in corrections from Chicago State University. He expresses a firm belief in the value of education and additional training for his officers.

“I believe in training and education,” Thompson says. “I’d like to see that our offi-cers are given additional training in areas like advanced accident investigations.”

DECEMBER BLOOD DRIVE SETS PHA RECORD

Port of Houston Authority employees, tenants, ven-dors, contractors and retirees gave the gift of life in a December Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center drive that resulted in an all-time yearly record for the port authority.

Participants donated a total of 43 units of blood in the PHA December blood drive, bringing the yearly total of donations to a record 243 units. The 2006 total exceeds the previous year’s total by 23 units.

A total of 33 potential donors attempted to give blood at the PHA Executive Office Building and 22, including four who donated red cells, were successful. There was one first-time donor.

At Barbours Cut Terminal, 21 units were collected from the 26 employees who attempted to donate. The group also included one first-time donor.

ALISEO FOODS ENTERS U.S. MARKET THROUGH HOUSTON

A new Italian foods company, Aliseo Foods, broke into the Houston market via the Port of Houston Authority Barbours Cut Container Terminal, with the arrival of its products on the Zim Line Barcelona Express.

Owner Alessandro Fossati and Mark Dicks, U.S. vice presi-dent of Aliseo Foods visited PHA Director of Trade Development John Horan to show off their “blood orange juice,” which is made from red-pulp oranges grown only in Sicily. Aliseo Foods’ blood orange juice and other products will be shelved at Central Market and Whole Foods stores.

AIIS STEEL MEETING

President David Phelps and Vice President Eric Hansen of the American Institute for International Steel met with PHA Trade Development Manager Rainer Lilienthal and Operations Manager Walt Kleczkowski to recognize them for their support to the AIIS and its steel accounts. A plaque was also presented to the PHA divisions Lilienthal and Kleczkowski represent. The meeting covered topics such as cargo transfer and steel input at the Turning Basin, documentation processes, infrastruc-ture improvements, marine terminal optimization

study (MTOMS) and security credentialing require-ments. Attendees included 25 steel and steel-related accounts, International Longshoremen’s Association and West Gulf Maritime Association.

TREE PLANTING AT NORTH GOAT ISLAND

About 40 volunteers from the Port of Houston Authority, Shell Oil Company, San Jacinto College, the Beneficial Uses Group, Texas Parks and Wildlife and contractors Gahagan and Bryant converged on the Houston Ship Channel’s North Goat Island March 3 for a massive planting of 2,250 trees on the 75-acre tract.

The 2,000 pine trees and an assortment of oak and bald cypress will help provide a habitat for waterfowl and stem erosion on the island.

Shell was the event’s major underwriter.

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THE MANIFEST spotlights news briefs exclusively from PHA, its customers, trading partners, and community stakeholders. Submit information in the form of a letter or press release via e-mail to ehenry@poha.com or via fax 713-670-2425. The Port of Houston Magazine does not guarantee publication and reserves the right to edit submissions for content and style.

To view The Port of Houston Magazine in Spanish, please visit www.portofhouston.com.

PORT HELPS SHIPMENT GO NUCLEAR

Port of Houston Authority’s City Docks were a crucial portal in the successful delivery of four huge steam generators from Spain to the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in North Texas.

The steam generators — each weighing about 400 tons and spanning 72 feet by 16.5 feet — were built by Equipos Nucleares (ENSA) at its Maliano workshop in northern Spain. Each of the generators contains around 5,500 tubes and took more than three years to build. They will serve as replacement units to the ones currently in use at the Texas plant.

ENSA is one of the few companies in the world with capabilities to build steam generators for nuclear plants.

Italy-based transporter Fagioli, a leader in moving shipments of this kind, was contracted to move this sensitive cargo from Spain to its final destination.

Fagioli has handled the door-to-door transport of 23 generators, from 250 to 800 tons, to the United States over the last four years.

Fagioli employed the use of a Jumbo heavylift vessel for the ocean transport to PHA’s city docks.

p h a n e w s h i g h l i g h t sTHE MANIFEST

The offload was performed by the ship’s gears with a lifting capacity of 800 tons onto railcars.

Cooper T. Smith was the stevedore on this project.Each generator was loaded on two TTX heavy-

duty flat cars with 12 axles, and the convoy moved in a special train organized and coordinated by Specialized Rail Transport (SRT).

It took more than a year’s planning to get approval for the transport from BNSF, PTRA, UP and FWWR. They are all owners of the different parts of the track from Houston to the nuclear plant.

The transport from Spain to Comanche Peak was safely completed in 32 days.

PORT PEOPLE DELIVERING THE GOODS

BAYPORT COMMUNIT Y OPEN HOUSE AND TOUR

Dear Ms. (Argentina) James,

My husband and I attended the Feb 10 “Community Open House and Tour” of Bayport and we would like to thank you and all those responsible for a very enjoyable, informative time.

We welcome you to the area, bringing economic growth and a future for our young people. It was great to hear that PHA was partnering with San Jacinto Community College for such training. The facilities were very nice and it looks as though you are taking every precaution to keep us safe (i.e. air, noise pollution, hazardous cargo). The “instant photos” were a special treat and one lady at the souvenir table was especially kind. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Maribeth & Michael DorrLaPorte, TX

By popular demand from readers, The Port of Houston Magazine wants to publish a section of reader comments. If you have brief remarks on your experiences or perspectives on the Port of Houston’s operations, services, or personnel, send them to: The Port of Houston Magazine • P.O. Box 2562 • Houston, Texas 77252-2562 or e-mail ehenry@poha.com or send a fax to 713-670-2425.

PORSCHE SHIPMENTS BEGIN AT PHA TURNING BASIN

The Port of Houston Authority has received its first shipment of Porsche vehicles for distribution to dealers in parts of the United States. Porsche Cars North America Inc. will ship an estimated 3,000 new cars through the Port of Houston Turning Basin Terminal this year. The move to ship through the Port of Houston helped Porsche improve the time it took to deliver its models to approximately 23 dealerships in the region. “With the addition of the Port of Houston, we will be able to serve our dealers even more efficiently in this region of the country, with the goal of improv-ing our brand’s overall retail sales satisfaction in a very important and growing Porsche market,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, PCNA president and CEO. Porsche has a total of 213 dealers in the U. S. and Canada, and last year, sold a record 36,095 new cars in North America.

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• Before 1924, the Harris County-Houston Ship Channel Navigation District operated its own pri-vate railroad, ensuring exclusive access to steamship lines calling at the port. That year — the district agreed to give up that exclusivity by allowing rail lines serving Houston to use its tracks and gain equal

access to those steamship lines. PTRA was formed as a result of that agreement and the ensuing free fl ow of competition served as a catalyst for the growth and development of the port.

• In 1995, the Port of Houston Authority and Union Pacifi c reached an agreement in which the port

Intermodal: How the Port Moves the Goods!

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then intermodal transportation

makes for some interesting and successful marriages.

Consider these evolutionary benchmarks in the growth of the Port

Terminal Railway Association, which provides rail service for the

Port of Houston:

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Intermodal: How the Port Moves the Goods! authority would build a 12-mile stretch of track on UP right-of-way from Deer Park to Strang Yard,

located in La Porte, about a mile west of Barbours Cut Container Terminal. In return, UP would be allowed use of the tracks, but would also have to agree to allow its head-to-head competitor — BNSF — use of the tracks as well. The new track was part of a massive Barbours Cut rail capital improvement-expansion project, which included a port authority track from Barbours Cut to Strang Road. Half the funding for the $30 million project came from, of all places, a federal highway program.

• That same year, PHA and UP reached a similar agreement on a yet-to-be-built, seven-mile stretch of track connecting a planned intermodal yard at Bayport Container Terminal to Strang Yard. PHA offi cials hope to fi nance part of that project with highway funds as well.

Last year 3,511 vessels called at and 4,278 barges ser-viced PHA terminals. More than one million trucks annu-ally rolled in and out of PHA terminals at Barbours Cut, Bayport, Turning Basin, Southside, Care, Bulk Materials Handling Plant and Woodhouse.

At the heart of PHA’s infrastructure designed to keep these massive fl eets of fl oating and rolling stock working

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in concert is PTRA’s intricate network of 150 miles of rail-road tracks on the north and south sides of the Houston Ship Channel. About 600,000 rail cars — equally distrib-uted among empties and full — roll along those tracks each year.

Whether it floats, flies or rides on rail, coordination among the various transportation modes was vital to the port authority’s ability to move 33.26 million tons of cargo across its wharves last year.

This is the magic of intermodal transportation in the 21st century — huge transportation entities with special interests at heart make big concessions to serve the greater common good.

Exclusive rights are surrendered; consolidation takes place; bigger units are built to get more vessels off the seas and vehicles off the road; conventional forms of funding are sometimes used in unconventional ways. It all con-spires to move cargo faster, cleaner, safer and cheaper as global trade heats up to unprecedented degrees.

Intermodal success stories abound around PHA.Growth and expansion of the port flourished as about

50 companies — a third of those presently lining the Port of Houston — built facilities at the port around the time of PTRA’s creation.

“It made the Port of Houston more attractive because shippers could choose any railroad,” says Dick Schiefelbein, PHA railroad coordinator. “It gave them greater flexibil-ity for the inland part of their cargo’s trip.”

About $15 million of the $30 million it cost for the rail expansion-improvement project came from the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) fund. The fund was established to assist communities, like Houston, located within areas that fail to meet air quality standards get more vehicles off the road by funding non-highway-related projects.

The rail line, which was completed in early 2002, has been instrumental toward meeting that goal.

“Last year, we had 82,000 intermodal lifts (those plac-ing containers onto or off rail cars) a year at Barbours Cut,” Schiefelbein says. “Before the track was built, we were doing 20,000 lifts a year.

“With that project, we brought competition in and improved the rail line,” Schiefelbein says. “Before that, they used to move those containers out of the terminal by truck and transport them to one of the railroad’s intermo-dal facilities in town. We’ve eliminated 60,000 of those truck trips per year.”

Schiefelbein says the next big challenge facing the intermodal transportation sector will be formulating a sys-tem that accommodates the growth of rail in the face of sprawling urban development that encroaches upon what was previously rural landscape dominated by tracks.

“What has happened is that most of the railroads were built in the 1880s in the places best suited for railroads,” he says. “Those were in rural areas out in the middle of the country. Today, what was the middle of the country is now the Galleria and Kingwood and Sugar Land.

“The railroads grew and the cities grew,” Schiefelbein says. “There are crossings now where there were none 100 years ago. In Harris County, there are 30,000 vehicle hours of delay at at-grade rail crossings each day. That translates into 180,000 vehicles delayed 10 minutes each every day.”

In its last session of the Texas Legislature, PHA officials supported legislation authored by Senator Jon Lindsay and Representative Peggy Hamric to allow for the cre-ation of a freight rail district to be set up by the city of Houston, Harris County and any adjacent counties want-ing to participate. So far, the city, Harris County and Fort Bend County are participating and each entity is in the process of appointing members to an 11-person board of directors. PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds will be an auto-matic appointee to the board. The freight rail district has the authority to plan, design and construct rail lines and facilities or to improve them.

“The at-grade crossings have a lot of impact on indi-viduals’ mobility today,” Schiefelbein says. “Have we addressed the problems in time? I don’t know. It would’ve been nice if we had fixed them five years ago. Then again, our efforts will still be appreciated if we fix it five years from now. At what point do you reach a critical point with traffic in Houston? It’s one of those things that’s nobody’s fault — you build a railroad; you build a city and one day you find that they’re in each other’s way.

“What do you do about it?” ■

Dick Schiefelbein

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Steel-Fortifi edDiet Leads PHAto UnprecedentedGrowth in ‘06

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A steady and balanced diet of cargo, fortifi ed by import steel, helped the Port of Houston Authority grow to unprecedented proportions last year. The port authority realized $164.7 mil-lion in 2006 operating revenue — a seven-percent increase over the prior year.

It marked the seventh consecutive year of PHA rev-enue growth and the 10th year of record revenue over the last 11 years.

PHA operating revenue has more than doubled over the past decade and its throughput of twenty-foot equiva-lent units (TEUs — a measurement unit of containerized cargo) has increased 70 percent over the same period.

“I know of few companies — even in the private sec-tor — that can claim that kind of performance,” PHA Executive Director Tom Kornegay told PHA commis-sioners in his “2006 Year End Review” presentation ear-lier this year.

Import steel was the big driver in 2006 as 5.39 mil-lion tons — the highest volume in 25 years and second highest in port authority history — moved through PHA facilities.

PHA’s Turning Basin Terminal had an outstanding year, grossing $27.58 million in revenue and posting a 39.5-percent increase over 2005, as traditional cargo throughput was impressive across the board. Port author-ity tonnage increased by 17 percent as 33.26 million tons moved across its wharves.

In addition to the banner year in steel, there were impressive increases in pet coke tonnage (28 percent) and exports of bulk grain (21 percent).

Steel-Fortifi edDiet Leads PHAto UnprecedentedGrowth in ‘06

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A total of 3,511 ships called at PHA terminals in 2006 — a four-percent increase over the previous year and nearly 38 percent of the 9,295 calls made at the entire Houston Ship Channel last year.

All PHA-operated and leased facilities showed healthy increases, as well, with Woodhouse Terminal setting a white-hot pace with a 212-percent increase. That surge was driven, primarily, by import steel. General cargo ton-nage at Care Terminal increased 33 percent and the facil-ity enjoyed a three-percent bump in bulk cargo tonnage as well.

Tonnage at the Bulk Materials Handling Plant — almost exclusively pet coke — was up 28 percent, while Jacintoport tonnage grew by fi ve percent. Despite having operated beyond design capacity for a number of years, effi ciencies at Barbours Cut Terminal contributed to an overall increase of 1.5 percent in TEUs and a 7.2-per-cent increase in total tonnage. PHA-operated facilities at the terminal posted respective growth rates of 3.6 and 8.1 percent.

“The economy is fabulous and we’ve gotten a lot of new business,” says Turning Basin Terminal Manager Walt Kleczkowski.

Kleczkowski says PHA’s ability to adjust to changing trends and to handle so many different types of cargo is the key to managing that growth.

“We’re extremely fl exible in handling any product,” he says. “We work with some fantastic companies — ste-vedores, freight handlers, trucking lines — who are will-ing to work seven days a week, with no down time. In addition, the Houston Pilots did a tremendous job getting ships in and out of the ship channel, despite all the fog closures we had last year.”

Eight new steamship lines began service at the port authority, expanding services to include Angola, Asia, Northern Europe, India, Pakistan and the Middle East and bringing in an estimated $5.1 million in revenue.

“The Pacifi c Rim is the fastest growing source of cargo for us, but we receive the bulk of our cargo from Western Europe,” says Brian Reeves, PHA marketing manager. “It is signifi cant to note the Port of Houston is no longer a secondary port of call; it is becoming a primary port of call

and as we’ve become recognized as such, the trend has begun and will continue to grow.

“Houston is the largest port on the Gulf Coast,” Reeves continues. “We are equidistant to west coast, east coast and central U.S. markets. We have room to grow as other coastal ports are becoming land constrained. From a PHA perspective, we are focusing more on effi ciencies, optimiz-ing revenues by focusing on the right cargoes — those which can be effi ciently handled without a lot of dwell time and which don’t require a lot of storage needs.

“We are also working more closely with our shipping partners to ensure the cargo moves quickly and effi ciently through the port system,” Reeves says.

This beehive of activity coincided with an earnest effort to bring the opening phase of Bayport Container and Cruise Terminal online, with the December 6–7 secu-rity clearance and trial berthing of the CMA CGM con-tainer vessel Orca.

By year’s end, work was being wrapped up on a 1,000-foot berth and about 60 acres of container yard. Other completed projects included the fi rst phase of a state-of-the-art electronic gate complex, an elevated water tower, Phase I of Port Road construction and the building of an on-site electricity power substation. ■

“The economy is fabulous and we’ve gotten a lot of new business.”

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To hear former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier tell it, there’s nothing mystical about formulating a solid transportation program; but there’s something magical

about the positive effects such a program can have on peoples’ lives.

“If I divide my life between private business practice and public service, I’d have to say that the public service part of it was much more rewarding,” Lanier says. “You get into public service in order to do the best you can for the people you represent.

“In transportation, you get another advantage,” he continues. “Transportation has a constant buzz of people moving in and out and you look at it and you get to feel the pulse of people. It really gives you a high. And, everybody I’ve ever talked to who’s worth a salt in public service will tell you they get real pleasure out of helping people.”

Proud of his modest blue-collar roots and shaped by a lifetime of service in both the private and public sectors, Lanier was a successful attorney, banker and real estate developer before mounting his first of three successful campaigns for mayor in 1991.

In 2002, he became only the sixth person inducted into the Texas Transportation Institute’s Hall of Honor at Texas A&M University. From 1983–87, he was chairman of the Texas Highway Commission, with stewardship over a $2.5 billion annual budget, as well as the building, maintenance and operation of the state’s highways.

Texas’ “Adopt-A-Highway” and “Don’t Mess With Texas” litter control campaigns were both launched dur-ing his tenure as highway commissioner. Lanier then served as chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), while also chairing the Texas Good Roads Transportation Association and the Regional Mobility Committee of the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

During his tenure as mayor, he was chairman of the Rebuild America coalition — a collaborative of cities, counties, engineering and construction companies inter-ested in the construction and maintenance of roadways. As chairman, he helped identify strategic problems and the need for funding.

While acknowledging that the successful integration of air, marine, highway and rail transportation is complex, the former mayor sees the formula for that success as rela-tively uncomplicated.

“How to blend intermodal together is an always timely, constant question in the transportation business,” he says. “I think that — to some extent, it should be an ongoing examination in the industry.

“In order to be successful, you have to look at the growth rate of each (transportation mode) and what you can expect from each one, given the political power behind it,” he says. “Putting those things together is always at the heart of solving any transportation problem.

“You determine what it takes, policywise and money-wise and then determine what is doable,” he says.

Making intermodal work as the fledgling Bayport Container Terminal expands and matures is one of the

o n I n t e r m o d a l i s mWHERE VISION AND PRAGMATISM INTERSECT

LanierLanier

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challenges facing Port of Houston Authority officials bracing for the next wave of container cargo traffic that is destined to come with increased global demand.

Lanier, whose wife Elyse Lanier serves as a PHA com-missioner, suggests a pragmatic approach to address inter-modal logistics around Bayport. It’s one he champions as being at the heart of every transportation problem.

“You look at what you expect in the way of traffic com-ing in,” he says, “then you look at handling it at loca-tions you have and what’s available through expansion. Growth rates of traffic seem to indicate that we can meet or exceed Bayport’s capacity.

“A lot of it depends on access — what’s coming in; and what’s going out on rail,” Lanier adds. “You ask yourself what can you do to encourage spurs and you maximize that the same way with the roads. Specific truck lanes could be looked at so you don’t have trucks weaving in and out of traffic. You may need additional exit ramps.”

As chairman of the highway commission, Lanier helped to develop new formulas for effectively prioritiz-ing and maximizing funding for highway projects based on moving the most people for the fewest dollars.

Whether it involves moving people over the roadways or cargo across intermodal lines, Lanier contends one of the keys to successful acquisition of sufficient funding is the ability to sell government agencies on the belief that your vision is broad in scope, but still driven toward a specific destination.

“The start of being pragmatic is having an overall vision of where you want to go,” Lanier says. “At the head of it all, you need to establish what your market is, how fast will it grow, what do you need in order to meet that growth and then with what agencies do you need to work in order to get it done — in policy, cost and politi-cally. You establish your road project priorities and take them to local highway departments to see what funding is available. After that, you look for additional funding. You do the same thing with rail. You look at accomplishing grade separations (with roadways).

“With regard to intermodal, you determine what part is coming in by ship, what part goes to trucks and to rail and then how the roads and rail connect to markets,” he

adds. “Do you have ample ways of getting it to market? Some may come in or go out by air. Each one can get complicated, but the key is being able to estimate growth and getting ahead of that growth and overuse. Then, you make the case that this need competes with other needs and emphasize the need to get it done.”

During his tenure as Houston mayor, Lanier was one of the champions of the I-69 corridor. More than a decade ago, he saw the critical need for a mid-continental road-way connecting Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

He also expresses confidence that the port authority’s foreseeable future rests in good hands and that its leaders will ensure adequate intermodal facilities will be estab-lished to solidify the Port of Houston’s role as a key player in international commerce.

“I grew up on the east side of Harris County,” he says. “My wife’s on the port commission. There’s a lot of infra-structure in place and there’s a lot that needs to happen. I know the port is working with the highway department to determine what infrastructure is needed. Anybody associated with the port — seeing goods coming in from Asia and other parts of world, seeing prices go down for consumers — can appreciate just how important it is to our community.

“We just need to go at it with a can-do spirit,” he says. “We need to get at it and retain the competitive advan-tage we have.” ■

o n I n t e r m o d a l i s mLanierLanier

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looks at big transportation picture in new appointmentHarris County Judge Ed Emmett has often been called a “big picture” guy. That will come in handy in his new role as presiding officer of the Harris County Commissioners Court. Emmett replaces longtime judge Robert Eckels, who resigned to join an international law firm.

“Citizens are pleased with the way the county is han-dling things, so I get to start on a whole different basis,” he says. “I don’t have to make sweeping changes. I want to focus on the bigger picture, looking at ideas for the future, getting those started. There’s a lot to do in two years.”

Emmett most recently served as chief strategist of The Emmett Co., an international transportation consulting and marketing firm.

Emmett

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“My entire adult life, I have been involved in trans-portation,” he says. “Since I was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 1978 — when a critical issue was getting an overpass built on I-59 at Kingwood — like most young politicians, I wondered how I would get it done.”

Since that time, he’s gotten a lot done.“I have a long-established relationship with the Port

of Houston Authority,” he says. “When I was working in Washington as president of the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), I led successful efforts to deregulate trucking and ocean shipping.”

Involved in politics for nearly 30 years, Emmett’s service in the Texas House of Representatives included represent-ing East Harris County, from Kingwood to Baytown. He was chairman of the Committee on Energy, a member of the Transportation Committee and chairman of the Highway Constuction Subcommittee.

Although not always in the public eye, Emmett has been visible. He has spoken at transportation con-ferences and meetings across the U.S. and in more than 15 other countries.

In 1989, Emmett moved to Washington to become Interstate Commerce Commissioner for President George H.W. Bush, serving three years. After leaving public office in 1992, he served for 10 years at the NITL. He returned to Houston in 2003 to found The Emmett Co.

“With my company, I worked directly with ports,” he says. “Long before I knew I would be the county judge, I bought the rights to sell booths at the International Association of Ports and Harbors Conference.”

Emmett says his main role as county judge is twofold: “First, to promote the prestigious image of Harris County to the public within and outside the county. Secondly, to coordinate Commissioners Court and county activities so that we operate as efficiently as possible and we take care of the needs of the citizens.

“The way we are structured, the commissioners have most of the hands-on duties with regard to the county. My role as presiding officer is to coordinate and put a public face on Commissioners Court.”

A major challenge for the new county judge is the direc-tion of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

“We have to be prepared. We hope we won’t have to be, but it has to be in the front of my mind that at any moment an emergency could cause us to react. Do we want to be judged in the best light or most harshly?

“Below that, we have issues of mobility. Traffic just doesn’t stop at the city limits or county line. I’ll be putting together a regional mobility plan, working with TxDOT, the county and others. There is a lot of congestion in Harris County, from close in to the outer areas. We need to use every mode of transportation, such as commuter rail, which will make sense in 15 years — but we’ve got to start now.”

The emphasis should not just be on passenger mobil-ity, he adds. “I come from a freight rail background, so rail, trucks, and, yes, even water, are just as important. For example, we can do well if we move containers across the channel by barge.

“In the role of county judge, I believe (and believed before becoming county judge) that Houston will become the major gateway into North America, with the growth of traffic from South America and places like India. This has been aided by shippers’ fears after the shutdown on the West Coast.”

The big picture for Houston affects the port, affects the region’s infrastructure and affects rail efficiency, he says.

“What do I want to accomplish in the next two years? The main thing is to prevent all hurricanes. Robert Eckels promised me he had canceled hurricanes for the year. All joking aside, we are going to continue building on a won-derful foundation,” Emmett says.

“Harris County is held in high esteem, does its job effi-ciently; it doesn’t waste taxpayers’ dollars.

“One of the most enjoyable aspects of the appointment is that I know three of the commissioners really well, two of them for almost 30 years, one since 1980,” he says. “The only one I didn’t know was Sylvia Garcia, but I have got-ten to know her since being on the court. We all respect and genuinely like each other. That’s important for build-ing consensus and getting things accomplished.” ■

“ My entire adult life, I have been involved in

transportation. Since I was first elected to the

Texas Legislature in 1978 — when a critical

issue was getting an overpass built on I-59 at

Kingwood — like most young politicians,

I wondered how I would get it done.”

Bay Area Houston

Economic Partnership

Government Procurement Connections

Blood Drive

Washington Reception

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Ensuring the security of the nation’s transportation sys-tem has long held the inter-est of U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee from Texas’ District 18.

As the new chair for the Subcommittee for Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection, she can now vig-orously pursue her interest and make a substantial impact on the issue.

“I have been on the Homeland Security committee from the very moment of its creation, first as a select committee and then as a full committee after 9/11,” Jackson-Lee says. “I consider this my avocation and my professional duty as a strong advocate of the importance of securing the homeland outside of the Beltway.”

Acutely aware of how far other modes of transporta-tion lag behind aviation in security, the congresswoman wasted no time in pushing through her committee draft legislation that would require the Homeland Security secretary to establish regulations for rail and mass transit security.

“We’ve just passed a rail security bill out of our commit-tee that came through my subcommittee. It requires that railroads and rail yards provide threat vulnerability assess-ments to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” Jackson-Lee says. “We will be providing transit security grants to assist various entities to secure transit systems and rail yards that surround the port.

“We are also going to increase the number of surface inspectors going around the country making sure that rail yards know about the security requirements that Homeland Security expects of them,” Jackson-Lee says.

No aspect of transportation infrastructure will be over-looked. “We expect to move forward on trucking and on chemical security,” Jackson Lee says. She anticipates the implementation of regulations on the rerouting of

hazardous materials so that “they are not going in and out of neighborhoods.”

Education and training are key components of enhanc-ing the nation’s security. “I believe it is very important for neighborhoods that surround economic engines such as ports to be included in the implementation of their own security,” Jackson-Lee says.

“Citizens in these neighborhoods need to have access to grants to educate them more about living around par-ticularly sensitive areas that might be subject to terrorist acts. They should be trained in evacuation procedures and should be included in the overall plan of securing an area that includes ports, railroads, refineries or chemical plants,” Jackson-Lee says.

The congresswoman is determined to keep infrastruc-ture security at the forefront of congressional decisions. “I want to make sure that the kinds of legislation that we pass transform us from a nation that is languishing and not keeping up with security needs to a nation moving forward to secure our transportation infrastructure.”

She takes great pride in having been an avid supporter of the SAFE Port Act of 2006, which offers $400 million in port security grants from 2007 to 2012, transportation security cards, screening at the nation’s 22 busiest ports, and a Port Security Exercise and Evaluation Program which emphasizes training.

“The SAFE Port Act of 2006 establishes a nuclear detection office in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” Jackson-Lee says. “This is one of the areas where we have real concerns. If a large ship comes into the port filled with radioactive materials, it could create an enormously dangerous situation. This new office will address those concerns.

“I want to ensure that security extends beyond the Beltway by keeping the public informed and by offering communities ways to secure and protect themselves.” Jackson-Lee says. ■

U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee

SAFEANDSECUREA Transportation Advocate

U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee

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Expansion Reinforces Waterway’s ResiliencePanama Canal

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Last October, Panamanian voters overwhelmingly approved a $5.25 billion proposal to add a third set of locks to the canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico. The plan calls for two 3-chamber locks to be constructed at both ends of the canal, creat-ing a third lane of traffic wide enough to handle massive containerships and tankers known as post-Panamax ves-sels. Additional approach channels will also be prepared and the existing channels will be dredged to facilitate larger craft.

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) officials are busy during this pre-construction phase. In February, they appointed Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank as financial adviser during the financing process for the expansion plan. Once a legal advisor and project management team

is in, the construction is expected to begin toward the end of 2007.

The project, expected to take about seven years to complete, will have a profound effect on trade in the Gulf, and particularly in U.S. trade. Presently, the canal handles about five percent of the total world trade (in terms of weight). In fiscal year 2006, the Panama Canal handled 211.7 million long tons of cargo, and 71 percent of this cargo had as origin or destination a port located in the United States. The major trade route is the one that joins Asia with the East and Gulf coasts of the United States.

The Port of Houston Authority dominates container cargo in the U.S. Gulf and has the two most modern container cargo terminals in the region. Therefore, it

The Panama Canal has proven itself to be remarkably adaptable

throughout its 93-year history. Now, the groundwork is being

laid for an expansion that could sustain massive international

vessel traffic for the future.

Expansion Reinforces Waterway’s ResiliencePanama Canal

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should be one of the obvious beneficiaries of the Panama Canal expansion.

“One of the principle things we are trying to do is to make improvements to meet the growth in the demand for our services,” says Rodolfo Sabonge, ACP corporate planning and marketing director.” We’ve seen demand increasing faster than anyone anticipated.”

“One of the benefits of expansion is that it allows us to grow and we will be able to double our capacity,” Sabonge says.

The ACP has a unique way of measuring vessels that is known as the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS). A PC/UMS ton is equivalent to 100 cubic feet of cargo carrying capacity. In fiscal year 2006, the total canal net tonnage, as measured in PC/UMS tons, was 295.5 million tons.

Today, maximum sustainable capacity for the canal is estimated to be between 330 and 340 million PC/UMS tons per year. Capacity is expected to be reached in two to five years.

With the expansion, the ACP will be able to more than double the canal’s net tonnage over the next 18 years. By the year 2025, the canal is expecting to handle more than 600 million PC/UMS per year. In the meantime, ACP officials are working to ensure that optimum efficiencies are in place to accommodate the heavy vessel traffic using the waterway.

The reservations system has been modified. The number of reservation slots has been increased from 21 to 25 with an “auction” slot being offered up daily. Improvements in lighting at the locks have been made to extend daylight transit. Currently, the transit of larger vessels is limited to daylight hours for safety reasons, Sabonge says.

“We are still working with a cushion (of space),” he says. “We have to look at the canal operation as the man-aging of a queue. There are ways to handle the queue and improve service. It takes a lot of work with the steam-ship lines, but we are able to accommodate them. Some customers, like the container ships and cruise vessels, need more expeditious transit as they have to meet tight schedules. For these customers, our reservation system is an asset.”

Sabonge says that the construction will not interfere with the day-to-day canal traffic.

“Most of the work will be done in the dry, in an area that runs parallel to the existing canal; thus, traffic will not be affected,” he says. “Dredging will be done, but that is something that is always done.”

John Rydlund, business development director of the Port of Houston Authority International Corporation, sees the canal expansion as vital to not only trade with Asia, but the southern hemisphere, as well.

“Right now, the Panama Canal is the lifeblood for much of the waterborne cargo from East Asia coming into the Gulf of Mexico,” he says. “Ships are getting bigger, cargo is increasing; congestion is building up. Everybody’s talking about East Asia,” Rydlund says. “But you have the west coast of South America, countries such as Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to consider. If they want to ship cargo from the west coast of South America to the Gulf of Mexico, it’s got to come through the Panama Canal.” ■

Brings Exper tise to Texas Transpor tation Commission

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project. Also during his tenure, the purchase of several tracts achieved assembly of the majority of the land. Holmes was also responsible for freeing up the Exxon project to begin work on Bayport and getting the bond election passed to fund the first phase of construction.

Holmes is among five appointees to the Texas Transportation Commission. In general, commissioners are appointed for six-year terms, and an appointment is made about every two years. The governor designates one commissioner to serve as the chair.

The Commission is responsible for such tasks as plan-ning and making policies for the location, construction and maintenance of state highways; encouraging the development of public and mass transportation in the state; and developing a statewide transportation plan that contains all modes of transportation, from highways and aviation to high-speed railroads and water traffic.

Holmes is chairman and CEO of Parkway Investments, a company that develops and manages real estate nation-wide. Appointed in 2003 by Gov. Perry to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, he has resigned that position to serve the four-year term on the Transportation Commission.

A member of the Urban Land Institute, Holmes previ-ously served on the city of Houston’s Planning Commission and as chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership. A native Houstonian, Holmes received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas and a law degree from The University of Texas School of Law.

As chairman emeritus of the Port of Houston Authority, Holmes’ perspective on regional transportation will be an asset in his new post.

“My experience serving on the PHA Commission and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will be very helpful in setting priorities and understanding the sensi-tivities of several major interest groups,” he says. ■

Port of Houston Authority Commission chairman for a dozen years and longtime Houston community leader and booster, Ned S. Holmes is now using his expertise to advance the Texas highway system.

Holmes will bring his extensive experience in regional transportation to his new position on the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees statewide activities of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, Holmes’ term will expire Feb. 1, 2011.

In his latest appointment, Holmes plans to be active on both the local and statewide levels, with a priority of improving the state highway system.

“As a Texas Transportation commissioner, my aim is to expand the financial capability of TxDOT to add much-needed additional capacity to the highway system,” he says. “It will be important to work out differences between TxDOT and most of the major counties and numerous landowners along the TransTexas Corridor.”

Holmes’ ambitious vision is to develop plans for a major expansion of the highway system in the Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin districts.

During Holmes’ tenure as port authority chairman (1988–2000), the Port of Houston’s facilities expanded and improved. As a result, container volume increased by 89 percent from 1988 to 1999, propelling the Port of Houston to rank No. 1 of only 34 ports in the world able to handle more than 1 million containers a year.

Of his accomplishments at the port authority, Holmes is most proud of his role in the project to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel. Under his leadership, the port authority was able to complete the approval process, obtain funding for and start construction on the

Brings Exper tise to Texas Transpor tation Commission

PHA Chairman Emeritus

Ned Holmes

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Going Beyond for a Cleaner FleetClean Feat

“Houston’s air pollution problems are well docu-mented,” says Aston Hinds, PHA Manager, Environmental Planning. “It’s in non-attainment of federal ozone stan-dards and we at the port want to do everything we can to reduce air pollution in our region.”

Through the program, five percent of the PHA fleet had to meet aggressive Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards each year for a total of five years. This program stipulated that publicly owned fleets adhere to these requirements in efforts to reduce air pollution.

“When the program was dismantled, due to the rollout of cleaner federal engine standards for on-road vehicles, the port authority had met all program requirements and accumulated 24 surplus credits,” says Dana Blume, PHA Environmental Planning Compliance Coordinator.

Ever the overachiever, the PHA now has one super ultra low-emission, 46 ultra low-emission and 146 low-emission vehicles, which account for more than 75 per-cent of its on-road fleet.

PHA’s on-road fleet of vehicles, including economy-size, six-cylinder sedans, is available to employees for

The Port of Houston Authority’s Environmental Planning

Division has a history of going beyond expectations. One

prime example was its participation in the Texas Clean Fleet

program, a critical need in light of Houston’s poor air quality.

off-site meetings and as pool cars. All three PHA facili-ties — the Executive Office Building, Turning Basin and Barbours Cut — have their own fleet of vehicles. At each facility, vehicles are assigned to specific people or departments.

The on-road fleet of vehicles comprises sedans and various types of trucks. While the state program exempted emergency vehicles, the PHA purchased environmentally friendly police and marine vehicles when available.

The growth of the port authority has impacted the need for more vehicles. Central Maintenance evaluates the fleets once a year.

“We ask each department to give us their ‘wish list’ of vehicles to replace,” says Marvin Sikes, PHA Assistant Manager, Central Maintenance. “We evaluate every vehicle, have an outside evaluator look at them, then make our decision from there. For about the last five years, we’ve been using LEV or better. We always try to go with the ULEV but it’s not always available in a par-ticular vehicle. To replace a vehicle, we look at mileage, how many problems we’ve had with it, number of times it’s been in the shop and its year.”

The port authority has two fueling stations, located at Central Maintenance and Barbours Cut, which are equipped with stage II vapor recovery, a requirement the state put on large fueling facilities. Again, Blume says, “Although the port authority does not meet the criteria of a large fueling facility, we do it anyway.”

The PHA fleet also includes one hybrid vehicle, a Toyota Prius, which is undergoing a yearlong evaluation test period. Blume says because of hybrids’ superior fuel efficiency, the port may eventually purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles if their higher initial cost can be justified.

“The port authority also has its own Clean Fleet Policy program at Bayport, which will eventually be imple-mented at all other terminals,” says Blume. “This program requires operators to have clean fleets (engines) operating at our terminals.”

The PHA is the first U.S. port to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) that meets the rigorous International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 14001 standards. The ISO 14001 standards recog-nize the PHA’s voluntary development and implemen-tation of an innovative EMS focusing on reducing and recycling solid waste, lowering air emissions, reduction of waste volumes and improving storm water quality, while reducing energy consumption.

“As part of our ISO 14001 certification, the port authority reduces VOC — or volatile organic compound — emissions,” says Hinds. “VOCs are a precursor of one of the components of ozone that reacts with nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sunlight.”

The PHA’s air quality program earned the American Association of Port Authorities’ Environmental Improvement Award for achieving significant reductions at its operations facilities in emissions of NOx, VOCs and particulate matter. In addition, the port authority’s main-tenance facility and Barbours Cut have achieved member-ship in the EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track, a partnership that recognizes top environmental performance among participating public and private U.S. facilities.

One of the Port of Houston Authority’s goals is to be recognized by the maritime industry as a “Model Port” in environmental compliance. Its continued efforts and par-ticipation in these programs are allowing the port author-ity to lead the way. ■

Clean Feat

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Rising fuel and operating costs must be juggled con-stantly. But the savvier operators of trucking firms know that there’s plenty of profit to be made if they use every available resource to make the right decisions.

Twenty-eight years ago, Excargo Services Inc. began with just one truck. “We’ve grown at a double-digit clip for the past decade with 75 percent of our revenue from the port, says Marcia H. Faschingbauer, president of Excargo Services, Inc.

Gulf Winds International has also grown quickly. “In 1996, we put five trucks on the road to support our ware-

house operations,” says Todd Stewart, vice president and general manager of Gulf Winds International. “Today, we have 250 trucks running.”

Excargo has found its niche by “focusing on those ship-pers concerned about service, time-sensitive loads, or the value

or fragility of the commodity,” says Faschingbauer. This has led to an increas-ing investment in technology.

“We use technology to communicate with drivers to give customers visibility with their freight,” Faschingbauer says. “We are online with the railroads and ports so much that we are more in the communi-cations business than just trucking.”

The hours-of-service rule change in 2005 was a big adjustment for the industry. The allowable hours truckers could drive was reduced and the method for calculating the hours also changed. “This put more pressure on us to make every hour productive,” Faschingbauer says.

Everyone is looking to improve their bottom line. “Most firms have already downsized and outsourced. To me, the focus is now on the supply chain and how to make that work,” Faschingbauer says.

“Everyone has their own system and some are more computerized than others,” Faschingbauer says. “We have

Business is booming at the Port of Houston. This keeps trucking firms scrambling to land new customers and hold on to the ones they already have.

Marcia Faschingbauer

Todd Stewart

TruckingKeep On

TruckingTough Competitive Business

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a lot more information now, making the information we don’t have impact us more negatively.

“Our expectations for information are so great, and we are operating on a much higher level of knowledge and expectation,” Faschingbauer says. “This is how you make more money in light of competition and increased fuel costs.”

“Rising fuel costs are always a challenge for all of us as trucking providers,” Stewart says. “As it fluctuates, we go back to the client to ask for more money in fuel charges. It’s driven by our need to compensate the drivers fairly on a per-mile basis or they can’t afford to operate.

“We have been fortunate that our business has grown dramatically and we’ve done a good job of growing our business by maintaining a consistent flow of containers and providing regular work for our fleet,” Stewart says. “It’s not hard to retain drivers if there is a regular flow.”

Stewart sees diversification as a key to success. “When you’re tied to a specific commodity, then your business lives and dies on one specific commodity. Diversity helps to avoid sharp downtowns, where drivers stand around without a load to haul. That’s when you lose large amounts of drivers,” Stewart says.

Competition for the best drivers is more heated than ever. “The traditional long-haul big firms are figuring ways to compete with us,” Faschingbauer says. “At one time, we could relax knowing that we could bring our truckers home every night. It gave us a recruitment advantage we don’t have anymore as the long haulers have begun to improve the quality of their drivers’ lives.

“I’m looking for the cream-of-the-crop driver,” Faschingbauer says. “My guys are accident-free and truly bilingual. They can go anywhere and find work.”

Both Stewart and Faschingbauer credit the Port of Houston Authority with listening to the trucking companies and doing the things needed to improve

efficiencies. Rapid turnaround times at terminals is a prime example.

“I take my hat off to Tom Kornegay,” Faschingbauer says. “He always says, ‘Come on in and let’s talk about how to make the trucks work right.’ He’s a coalition builder and we’re very fortunate to have his leadership and attitude at the port,” Faschingbauer says.

“There are so many unseen committees and task forces made up of really dedicated people. My competitors and associates are willing to talk it out and make it work, while at other ports, the communication just breaks down,” Faschingbauer says. ■

Marcia Faschingbauer

TruckingTrucking

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Johnny Rozsypal, chief of operations and maintenance for the Corps, has been on the navigation end of the transportation scale for more than three decades. He is adamant in his position that the waterways deserve their just pieces of the pie when it comes to funding.

“Navigation is an economic engine,” Rozsypal says. “Historically, because it’s such a silent partner, it hasn’t gotten what it deserves compared to the highways. Yes, there is the intermodal network, and the highways are part of it, but what is sometimes ignored is that you can’t get the goods to market without the navigational waterways. They are also a vital part of our defense mechanism.”

In August 2005, a small group of offi cials sailing aboard the pilot vessel Bayou City cut a ribbon stretched 150 feet across the Houston Ship Channel. That ceremonial

They are the world’s navi-

gational waterways and the

responsibility for keeping

the primary inlet for the

world’s 10th largest port safe

and clear rests with the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers.

Next to the skyways, they are the oldest and most expansive pieces of the intermodal puzzle. Without them, there would be no global commerce.

Houston Ship ChannelAN IMPORTANT PART OF INTERMODAL NETWORK

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ribbon cutting signifi ed the completion of the seven-year-long HSC widening and deepening project, a projectdesigned to further fuel the Port of Houston’s remark-able growth.

The massive project, which was fi rst proposed in the 1960s, was undertaken with the aim of reducing collision and oil-spill risks in the channel by widening it to 530 feet (from 400 feet) and deepening it to 45 feet (from 40 feet). Greater capacity was also provided by the addition of barge lanes constructed on either side of the channel to a depth of 12 feet to allow slower barge traffi c to navigate the channel. The project — which is in its maintenance and operations phase — will cost $705.23 million over its 50-year life. Most of that comes through federal fund-ing. The Port of Houston Authority, as the local sponsor of the project, will pay its share from bonds approved by Harris County voters in 1989.

Although the Corps dredges all over the United States in the name of commerce, the ship channel offered its own set of logistical challenges that helped contribute to the project taking two years longer than the fi ve years it was originally expected to take.

“Everything from funding to construction logistics to the dredging taking longer than originally thought, (con-tributed to the delay),” says USACE project manager Dalton Krueger.

Dredges working the channel in Galveston Bay were not allowed to operate within fi ve miles of each other. Those dredging in the bayous were limited to not working within three miles of each other.

The logistics of pumping and placing dredge material — in some cases as far away as eight miles from the dredge site — presented problems, as did shoaling in the chan-nel. There were periodic interruptions while contractors laid pipelines across the channel. There were shutdowns of the channel and congestion in vessel traffi c when work forced some ships to slow down. There was shoaling (the buildup of sand, silt and debris from the river and bayous that fl ow into Galveston Bay).

Despite all the challenges, the Corps was able to com-plete the mission of dredging and providing benefi cial use for the dredge material on a larger scale than had ever been attempted in the United States.

The project stretched 39 miles, from the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico to the Shell Refi nery docks on Boggy Bayou, about one mile downstream of the Beltway 8 Bridge.

Future construction will only involve placement area construction at three locations and the addition of more dredge “cells” or benefi cial use areas.

And, while the shaping of the new HSC template is complete, the Corps is busy with maintenance responsi-bilities. Shoaling is a regular concern, with upstream areas shoaling at a rate that requires the channel to be dredged every three years.

Another dynamic is the increasing fl ow of traffi c at one of the world’s busiest ports.

“It is such a busy port, yet that works against you in some respects because the large amount of traffi c inhib-its dredge production,” says Rozsypal. “Each year, we get together and forecast our needs two years out. We’ve even developed a fi ve-year plan.

“The port (authority) has been very effective in doing the coordination between the federal government and the Corps and getting whatever we need in order to maintain the channel,” Rozsypal says.

The Corps recently fi nished maintenance dredging in the entrance channel between the Galveston jetties. Currently, dredging is taking place at the Bayport Ship Channel and in the Houston Ship Channel from Bayport to four to fi ve miles to the south. There is also an ongo-ing contract from the Fred Hartman Bridge to the Exxon refi nery. Mining of dredge material from Barbours Cut is being done to provide material to repair and raise the levees in the Spillman Island placement area.

Rozsypal applauds the efforts of all involved in making this delicate juggling act work.

“The people who face it directly are the dredging con-tractors” he says. The port is so busy that traffi c impedes dredging production. Obviously, when a ship comes by, the dredge has to get out of the way. They just have to deal with it. I applaud the efforts, not only of our dredg-ing contractors — but the pilots as well. They work well together. They need us and we need them. The dredgers pull off maintaining the channel while the pilots maneu-ver the ships past the dredges with very few accidents.

“Some of the reaches are tougher to make the maneu-vers in than others,” he says. “When you get into the channel reaches above Baytown, you get into a lot of curves in the channel. The biggest problem we face, other than safety, is to deal with the congestion added by the docks and businesses along the channel; to lay the dredge pipelines to the placement areas through these facilities without disrupting their operations.” ■

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Leading transportation experts will address delegates at the

25th International Association of Ports and Harbors World Ports

Conference at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston, Texas,

April 27–May 4.

Among cabinet-level officials at the conference, U.S. Transportation

Secretary Mary Peters will discuss transportation in the United States.

The Chairman of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, USA

Inc. (MSC) Captain Nicola Arena will provide the keynote address at

the opening ceremony of the conference on Monday, April 30. MSC is the lead-

ing provider of direct port calls, serving six continents and 215 ports.

These IAPH speakers represent Simply the Best in transportation!

IAPH Speakers Simply the Best in Transportation

Mary Peters

Captain Nicola Arena

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“It is the most difficult channel in the world because of two-way traffic and the sheer number of tows,” says 20-year veteran, Captain Robert Thompson, now in his sec-ond, one-year term as presiding officer. “We average about 55 ships transiting the Houston Ship Channel each day.”

“Our forefathers knew the criticality of two-way traffic and developed unique maneuvers allowing the essential two-way flow,” he says. “We’ve embellished on it through out the years, adapting as time goes by and as ships grow in size.”

In the beginning, two pilots were employed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce. In 1921, five branch pilots were commissioned by the Governor of the State of Texas for the Houston Ship Channel, and formed the present Houston Pilots Association. Since 1923, the Houston Pilots have been under the jurisdiction of the Port of Houston Authority with the Port Commissioners acting as Pilots Commissioners.

As the Port of Houston grew so did the number of pilots. Currently, there are 74 branch pilots, and 12 deputy

pilots in training. The Houston Pilots accept only expe-rienced working mariners who have been qualified and licensed by the United States Coast Guard as first class pilots for Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel.

S E R V I N G A S P A R T N E R S O F T H E P O R TAs a vessel arrives at the bar and gives two long and three short blasts of the whistle or flashes on

its signal lamp, a blue and gray boat approaches and a pilot boards to provide guidance through the

most difficult pilotage in the world. This scene has played over and over again since 1915, when

the first Houston Pilots guided seagoing ships along the long, narrow Houston Ship Channel.

Houston PilotsHouston Pilots

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before and after a storm. Creative approaches to the problems and lessons learned from these storms led to such innovative solutions as the use of helicopters for the movement of pilots along the 54-mile channel. More important, a helicopter allows pilots back into the area after a storm to assess damages and speed in the recovery of the port.

“After the tragic events of 9/11, security became a mission of the Pilots,” Thompson says. “While

the Coast Guard assumes the major role in port security and screens all vessels, the Pilots are always vigilant and work closely with authorities to help keep America secure. Pilots are the first and last resource a ship uses during a port call.”

Thompson’s own beginnings were unlikely for a ship pilot. Born in New Mexico, he had no connection to the water and had planned on attending college in New Mexico on a wrestling scholarship. But recurring knee injuries prevented that and he went in a different direc-tion – to the National River Academy in Arkansas.

After graduation, he spent several years with Patton Barge Lines, working his way up to captain, then vice president, while traveling the Mississippi and many other rivers. Thompson then began the arduous process of becoming a Houston Pilot.

“We believe in the team concept, a team of strong individuals confident in their ability,” he says. “The Pilots have grown to be partners in the port. We are always look-ing at ways of embracing safety, security and economy.

“During the past few years, for example, since the deep-ening and widening of the Houston Ship Channel, the Pilots have been able to start moving wide-bodied tankers at night,” he says. “The dispatch system also works to take problems that agents have and work through them safely while providing economical solutions. For the people we serve, a delay costs money. We want to help, but only in a manner that is safe. Safety is our primary concern.

“All pilots who navigate the channel, moving com-merce, make this a great port.” Thompson concludes. “The cooperation and teamwork of the Coast Guard and industry that we’ve built over the last 20 years has made Houston one of the greatest ports in all the world.” ■

The deputy pilots are trained for three years before being recommended to the Pilots Commissioners and the gov-ernor for a Branch commission.

“Everybody who takes the job has been in the marine industry for 12 to 15 years,” says Thompson. “They are all experienced mariners. When they get here, we teach them the skills necessary to safely navigate the channel. It’s a matter of repetition, repetition, repetition. It’s hammered into them. For the first six months, the deputy pilots must ride with a branch pilot, who starts teaching them the skills. Then for the next 30 months, they gradually start to handle bigger and bigger ships until they are qualified to navigate any vessel calling on the Port of Houston.

“The pilots are the key to the safe flow of commerce in and out of the port,” he says. “Vessel captains are highly qualified but don’t have the local knowledge of the many ports that they visit. The Houston Pilots are the essential link to providing the safe navigation in and out of the Port of Houston.

“Every day is a new challenge,” he says. “Vessel traf-fic must be managed within the constraints of resources available. When fog or severe weather limits the normal daily flow, we have to play catchup.” Pilots work hard to return traffic back to its normal flow.

Thompson says a worst-case scenario affecting the ship channel would be a hurricane with a full port shutdown. While there are hurricane preparedness plans in place, the Pilots must look at each storm individually and plan what to do. While no one can stop or prevent a hurricane, the goal is to help the port speedily resume operations.

Developing a better hurricane plan was among the goals Thompson wanted to accomplish as presiding officer. Katrina and Rita made him more aware of a port’s needs

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For several years now, Barbours Cut Container Terminal (BCT) has been operating well beyond design capacity, and strains associated with handling 64 percent of the containerized cargo in the Gulf and 95 percent of the containers moving through the state of Texas have led to calls for modifications in its configuration and its operations model.

Several improvements have been made to the 30-year-old terminal over the last few years in response to the demands of increased cargo flow. These include the implementation of a new terminal operating system and the purchase of additional RTG cranes, which — PHA Container Terminals Manager Roger Guenther says — have improved service levels to the customers.

New entry and exit gate complexes should be com-pleted during the summer of 2007. The system will rep-licate the new, state-of-the-art gate operation recently installed at the Bayport Container Terminal, substantially reducing the turnaround time for truckers.

That’s encouraging news for drivers of the estimated 1,000 to 1,500 trucks that make daily calls at the facil-ity located just north of the city of Morgan’s Point and just east of La Porte. Barbours Cut produces an average of 2,000 interchanges a day, Guenther says. On peak days, that number can increase by 25 percent.

The PHA-operated container facility at BCT sits on about 160 acres. An adjoining, 110-acre facility is leased by APM Terminals for container operations. BCT is a full intermodal facility, with a rail facility and container freight stations. About 200 PHA employees work at BCT and that workforce is augmented by between 70 and 130 International Longshoremen’s Association employees who work for the port authority on a daily basis.

The terminal is worked by 13 ship-to-shore cranes; 10 belong to the PHA and three are owned by APM Terminals. About 1,000 vessels call at BCT each year.

About 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) moved through both terminals in 2006.

Still a Mainstay of Container Activity

Barbours In the wake of the fanfare surrounding the

opening phase of the Bayport Container

Terminal, its sibling terminal at Barbours

Cut continues to carry the brunt of the

load for the busiest container activity on

the Texas Gulf Coast.

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Location: 1515 East Barbours Cut Blvd., LaPorte, Texas 77571

Year built by PHA: 1977

Cargo handled in 2006: 1.606 million TEUs; 40.6 million tons.

Container berth space: Six 1,000-foot-long con-tainer berths providing 6,000 feet of continuous quay. Roll-on/roll-off platform. LASH dock.

Warehouse space: 255,000 square foot ware-house space. Comprehensive refrigerated food warehouse is located near the terminal.

Additional amenities: 230 acres of paved marshalling area. Computerized inventory control system tracks the status and location of individual containers. Four entry points with a combined total of 26 truck lanes and eleven 60-ton scales

TALE OF THE TAPEFENTRESS BRACEWELL BARBOURS

CUT CONTAINER TERMINAL

Cut

Guenther says that with the much-needed relief brought about by Bayport’s opening, BCT will be able to run effi -ciently at below the 1.6 million TEU level.

“The opening of Bayport has provided some welcome relief at Barbours Cut Terminal,” he says. “This will allow BCT to operate more effi ciently and continue to provide an excellent level of service to our customers.” ■

for heavy truck traffi c. Two 100,000-square-foot sheds and one 55,000-square-foot shed. 24-hour security and availability.

Water depth: Channel depth is 40 feet at mean low tide.

Rail: Intermodal rail ramp at terminal with spurs leading to warehouses on terminal. The rail ramp consists of 42.1 acres with four working tracks (each approximately 2,700 feet in length), fi ve storage tracks (each approximately 2,550 feet in length) and 900 parking spaces. The entire facility is paved. The handling method is two Mi-jack over-head cranes (one D800R and one D800AC) each capable of 30 moves per hour. Hours of operation are 0800-1630.

Trucks: Four entry points with a combined total of 26 truck lanes and 15 60-ton scales; access to all major freeways.

Container: Room for more than 24,500 grounded TEUs; 342 reefer outlets; slots for more than 2,500 wheeled units.

Wharf Cranes: Six 40-ton Panamax cranes; four 50-ton post-Panamax cranes; APM terminal: two 30-ton Panamax cranes; one 50-ton post-Panamax crane.

Yard Cranes: Eighteen 40-ton, twenty-two 50-ton rubber-tired cranes.

Other Cranes: Four 30,000-pound (13.6 m.t.) top lifters for handling empty containers, mobile crane (diesel) with 82-ton (83.3 m.t.) capacity, three 40-ton (top pick) load handling machines.

Other Equipment: 33 heavy-duty yard tractors and 125 heavy-duty yard chassis available for rent; special heavy-lift equipment available from private fi rms.

For more information: call 281-470 -1800

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BUSINESS CONNECTIONS

“Why do I believe? We’re on the edge of the Houston metro area,” he says. “We have the most vacant avail-able land, which has the necessary infrastructure and utilities in place. Other reasons I believe in Baytown are the proximity to the Port of Houston and Cedar Bayou that is now navigable to barges. Also, local elected offi-cials understand business, that you have to make a profit to prosper.”

Formed in 1986 as a non-profit, quasi-governmental corporation, the Foundation’s aim is to make the Baytown area the best move for corporate expansion and relocation.

The organization’s focus is on creating and preserving jobs by addressing regional issues, such as development and expansion of potable water and sewer infrastructure, supporting the Clean Air Act by working with area plant managers and targeting the types of businesses that would most benefit the area.

Twenty years ago, Shields says, “Baytown was virtu-ally a cow pasture. Now it’s growing like weedlings. We have worked closely with the Port of Houston Authority on a number of projects, such as Jindal Steel, which was bought by a company in India. We put together a task force with the federal government and were able to keep the steel mill here. Wal-Mart’s two-million-square-foot distribution center was the biggest project in the U.S. when it was built in 2005.

“The port authority brings such professionalism and is among our significant partners.”

Shields also praises the area’s elected officials, citing Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia of Precinct 2. “She has breathed life into this area with her economic summits two years in a row. She is working with area com-panies to help move people to where the jobs are.

Baytown-Area/West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation

“We’re successful because we have what companies are looking for: land, labor, capacity, infrastructure, a transportation system. Units of government all sit on our board.”

A 35-member board of directors guides the Foundation. Financial partners include local businesses, Chambers County, Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority and the Baytown Municipal Development District.

The Foundation provides such services as city-wide redevelopment assistance; small business loan programs; intermodal transportation strategy; workforce mobility plan; assisting start-up and minority-owned businesses; and advising local governments on public policy.

Over the past 10 years, the public-private partner-ship has worked directly with more than 35 companies that have invested $1.75 billion in the community, created 2,200 jobs and generated $54.4 million in new tax revenues.

“We have believed in Baytown all along,” Shields says. ■

Pictured from left are B.J. Simon, economic development specialist, Tracy Brown administra