Happy Thursday!
We went to the Greater Houston Port Bureau (GHPB) Commerce
Club Luncheon and its Annual Meeting at the Houston Marriot South at
Hobby Airport today.
It was the GHPB’s Annual Meeting.
We said goodbye to the previous Chairman of the Board, Bernt Netland of ITC and
he gave his final farewells. We were then
introduced to the new GHPB’s Board for 2024 and were introduced to the new Chairman
of the Board, Vincent DiCosimo of Targa Resources. Mr. DiCosimo gave a brief statement on the
Board’s goals for 2024. The Board’s goal
is to make the Houston Ship Channel and Port the greatest in the World through
continued engagement and advocacy.
The speaker was Roger Guenther, Executive
Director of Port Houston. Mr. Guenther gave a bit of background on Port
Houston. They started out as the Harris
County Houston Navigation District over a hundred years ago, and with advocacy,
community involvement, hard work they eventually became Port Houston. This year was a good year for the Port because
they have moved up to become the No.5 Container Port in the U.S. The supply chain challenges from the pandemic
have dissipated, and they have invested in its infrastructure. Some of the investments are they have added
more big cranes and more dock space. With
the help of its partners including the GHPB, Project 11 has come to life and it
is proceeding on schedule and on budget.
Project 11 has completed stage 1A, and 1B is expected to be completed as
early as September in the Fall 2024. Stage
1C is expected to be awarded soon. Project
11 is expecting twenty-seven miles to be done by the end of 2024. Mr. Guenther spoke about when Project 11 is
completed there is much maintenance to be done to maintain the improvements. In 2023, their maintenance was fully funded through
advocacy. They need funds and he spoke
about the new User Fee which is expected to be used to help pay their part of
Project 11 which is $825 million and maintenance. They issued revenue bonds, but it isn’t
enough to cover it all. A User Fee will
be coming as soon as 2025 and it will take around a year to go through all the
channels to get final approval.
The Port Commission will be going
to the public soon with the draft of the User Fee. The User Fee will be placed on the Federal
Register for a comment period from the public for 60 days to get their thoughts
before a final User Fee will be implemented. The User Fee is necessary for the improvements
to continue and for us to have a safer and wider channel with no daylight
restrictions. The completion of Project
11 will have a large economic impact on our community, so the User Fee is
essential in the Port’s plans to make us the best!
Mr. Guenther spoke on the topic
of freight mobility and sustainability.
The improvements which have been made at Barbours Cut and Bayport
Terminals have improved efficiency, and they have been able to move about four
million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
Port Houston wants to move more containers, but the trucks need a place
to go. Their hours now are Monday
through Friday 6 am to 6 pm, but they would like to be able to have more hours,
but they would need the industry to adapt.
In September 2024, they expect larger ships, but the trucks which move
the containers need places to go. The
best plan would be for trucks to move when the community isn’t during the night,
and a possible inland terminal where the goods may be unloaded, so the port
could move seven million TEU. They are
asking the industry to help them attain this goal!
Mr. Guenther spoke briefly on a
few other topics. He spoke on their
future plans of being carbon neutral by 2050 which is important to their customers. He announced Port Houston will be moving
to the 5th Ward/East River, because they need more room than their
current location. They have approximately
800 people working for them now. They are looking forward to the move and the “what’s
next!” for the community and Port Houston. If you would like to read more about their
plan, check out their website.
Thank you, Roger Guenter! You are an interesting and informative
speaker, and we are looking forward to seeing what Port Houston does next!
As you see the speakers at the GHPB’s
Commerce Club Luncheons bring an informative talk to all that
attend. The next Commerce Club Luncheon
is February 8, 2024, at 11 a.m. The
speaker will be Captain Keith Donohue, Sector Houston-Galveston, United States
Coast Guard. Please check out the
website, if you would like to learn more.
If you would like help in
figuring out how to get your product moving with less of a carbon footprint,
contact us via email on the blog or give us a call: 281-901-5554. Check out our ESC's website!
We hope you have a great and
productive rest your week!