Hurricane Harvey Recovery Statement Port Houston Chairman Janiece Longoria
Our thoughts and prayers are with the thousands of victims impacted by the unprecedented devastation from Hurricane Harvey.
We compliment our local leadership for their extraordinary efforts to assist our fellow citizens and to coordinate response and mitigation efforts. Both Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner have tirelessly worked on behalf of our region and have emphasized the importance of returning to normalcy as soon as possible.
In that spirit, and under the leadership of Executive Director Roger Guenther we are happy to report that Port Houston facilities are fully operational and working normal business hours.
Our quick return to serving ship channel industry and Port Houston customers was made possible by the extraordinary teamwork of many stakeholders, including our own Port Houston staff, stevedores, the trucking community, ocean carriers, Houston Pilots, tugs, line handlers, vessel agents, the U.S. Coast Guard, Port Coordination Team, Customs and Border Protection, and many others in the maritime industry who pulled together 24/7 since the storm to make this happen for the good of our region. On behalf of Port Houston, thank you all for your extraordinary dedication and help.
Port Houston’s recovery began on Friday, September 1. On that day, Port Houston’s Barbours Cut and Bayport Container Terminals handled five thousand gate transactions. Vessel activity and gate operations continued seamlessly through the weekend. Thanks to the proactive leadership of the International Longshoreman’s Association – the ILA – more than 120 crews worked ships from Friday night through Monday, even though Labor Day is traditionally observed across the nation as a holiday in honor of American Labor. Since Friday, fourteen container vessels have been serviced at Barbours Cut and Bayport terminals, and on Monday, those container terminals handled three thousand additional gate transactions.
We are also grateful to Governor Greg Abbott for his attention to the needs of our region and his assistance with recovery efforts. We are working with Governor Abbott and the Coast Guard to assure that oil tanker movements are able to serve refineries in the north channel once they reopen, and that deliveries of crude supplies are not unnecessarily impeded by competing traffic.
As our region recovers, we are ever mindful of the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Thank you Maritime Community for your unflagging efforts to restore commerce. We are indeed a family that pulls together during a crisis, and we are very grateful for the recognition by so many that ship channel industry and ship channel operations are critical to our nation’s energy security, as well as the need to keep commerce flowing for the benefit of our citizens, supply chain certainty and the vitality of our region.
CONTACT:
Lisa Ashley, Director, Media Relations Office: 713-670-2644; Mobile: 832-247-8179 E-mail: lashley@poha.com
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, the Port of Houston Authority has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals of Port Houston – the nation’s largest port for foreign waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas, and the nation. It supports the creation of nearly 1.175 million jobs in Texas and 2.7 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling almost $265 billion in Texas – 16 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product – and more than $617 billion in economic impact across the nation. For more information, visit Port Houston’s website at: www.porthouston.com.