The Port of Houston Authority facilitated an important visit and tour of the Port of Houston, Friday by Reps Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Brian Babin (R-Texas) to learn more about the national impact of the Port of Houston overall and in particular its safety and security measures. The visit was arranged upon the invitation of Poe, who along with Hahn, co-chair the PORTS Caucus, which represents more than 100 ports across the nation.
A delegation that included Port of Houston Authority Port Commissioners John D. Kennedy and Stephen DonCarlos, along with federal partners Captain Brian Penoyer, Commander, US Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston, and Leslie Fleming, Luczkowski Assistant Port Director, Customs and Border Protection and Captain Mike Morris, presiding officer, Houston Pilots visited Shell’s Deer Park refinery before taking a tour by boat of the Houston Ship Channel.
The tour highlighted unique aspects of the nation’s busiest port. CBP provided the group a demonstration of its Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS) at the Port Authority’s Bayport Container Terminal.
The Port of Houston is a significant economic engine for the nation, generating nearly $500 billion of national economic activity and 2.1 million American jobs. It is the leading export port in the nation of petrochemical and energy products.
The Port of Houston has a robust and successful port security program that is based on the collaboration and cooperation of the 150 individual companies and terminals that comprise the overall port. The tour allowed members to see firsthand how the port functions and collaboratively coordinates safety and security measures. The Port of Houston Authority works closely with all its partners on the federal, state and local levels, as well as those in the private sector.
For more than 100 years, the Port of Houston Authority has owned or operated the public cargo-handling facilities of the Port of Houston, the nation’s largest port for foreign waterborne tonnage. The port is an economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the nation. It supports the creation of more than one million statewide jobs and more than 2.1 million nationwide jobs, and the generation of economic activity totaling more than $178.5 billion in Texas and $499 billion across the nation.
Photo: The delegation learned more about the Houston Ship Channel aboard one of the Port of Houston Authority’s three Emergency Response Vessels. The group also saw the Port Authority’s four new Super Post-Panamax Ship-to-Shore cranes at the Barbours Cut Container Terminal.
