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6 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

PORT OFHOUSTON

Official Publicationof thePort of HoustonAuthority

Volume 18 OCTOBER, 1974 ’No. 10

Port CommissionersAnd Staff

FENTRESS BRACEWELL, ChairmanW. D. llADEN, II. CommissionerMns. MARCELLA D. PgaaY, CommissionerWARNgR F. BROCK, CommissionerGEOaCE W. ALTVATEa, Executive DirectorC. E. BULLOCK, General Manager--

OperationsRZCHAaD P. Lr.ACn, General Manager--

AdministrationF. WILI.IAM COI.BURN, CounselMICHAEL Scoacio, Executive Secretary

to the Port CommissionVAUanN M. BRYANT, Director o/

International RelationsC. A. RoussEa, JR., General Sales ManagerF~waan P. MooRE, Eastern Sales ManagerFRANK WARD, Eastern District Sales ManagerHUME A. ItENDEaSON, Southwestern

Sales ManagerARMANOO WATEaLAND, Midwestern District

Sales RepresentativeBILL Cool, IVestern Sales ManagerJ. K. HENnERSON, ControllerK. P. RODrN, Manager, Bulk Materials,

Handling PlantWALLACE J. STAGNER, Manager, Storage

WarehousesNORMAN E. HUENI, Chie/EngineerD~,VlD P. WALSII, Assistant Chic/EngineerALTON IL LANDRY, Personnel Manager and

World Trade Building ManagerJ. R. CURTIS, Senior Terminal ManagerW. D. DUNNAHOE, Terminal ManagerL. T. FR1TSCH, Purchasing AgentA. J. M. VAN DE VEN

Maintenance SuperintendentLOUIS F. BROWN, JR., Chie/, Fire Protection

and Trafic Control OfficerC. G. SEAMAN, Superintendent Eficiency,

Sa/ety and SecurityV. D. WILLIAMS, Manager o/General ServicesTED SUMERLIN, Advertising ManagerMIwY RANWaSOr~, Publicity ManagerS. G. FULLERTON, County Auditor

EXECUTIVE OFFICE1519 Capitol Avenue, Itouston, Texas 77002P. O. Box 2562, Ilouston, Texas 77001

Telephone: (713) 225-0671

TERMINAL OFFICETelephone (713) 672-8221

NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE60 East 42nd. Street, New York 10017

Telephone: (212) 867-2780

CONTENTS

Weather Reports Are Vital To Seafaring Men ............ 8

Eastern Shippers Entertained By Port Officials ................ 10

Port of Houston Ship Channel Is 60 Years Old ................ 12

Seamen’s Center Has Training Seminar .................... 16

Port of Houston Snap Out Directory .................... 17

The Houston Port Bureau Reports ...................... 21

THE COVERIn only 60 years the Port of Houston has grown from a dream to a reality

that is firmly established as the nation’s third largest port. The two containercranes in the center of the cover picture point to the approximate location ofthe Port of Houston’s first wharf. For more about the Port’s early days seePage 12.

The Port of Houston MagazineTF.V SUMERLIN, Editor

Published monthly by the Port of Houston Authority, the PORT OF HOUSTONMagazine is distributed free to maritime, industrial and transportation inter-ests in the United States and foreign countries. This publication is not copy-righted and permission is given for the reproduction or use of any originalmaterial, provided credit is given to the Port of Houston. Additional informa-tion, extra copies or advertising rates may be obtained by writing the PORT OFHOUSTON Magazine, Post Office Box 2562, Houston, Texas 77001.

OCTOBER, 1974 7

Second Mate Joe McCulloch,right, discussing barometricreadings with Julius L. Soileau,Port Meterological officer. Belowis Radio Operator H. V. Phelpstyping weather informationreceived from a shore basedstation.

Weather Reports Are Vital

1o Men, Who Sail lhe Seas

~’eather is the most important worry oJ a seaJaring man.

T tIAT’S THE WAY Captain A. C. DeBoer, master of the.SS.JOSEPH LYKES, summarized his outlook recently while

his ship was loading at the Port of Houston.But much of the worry for Captain DeBoer and thousands

of others sailing the seven seas is relieved by the diligent workon vessels and ashore of the National Weather Service.

Julius L. Soileau, Port Meteorological Officer, said thatmaritime weather reporting is a round robin affair. Many ofthe ships sailing the oceans of the world make and recordweather observations every six hours. This information isencoded and sent by radio to the nearest Coast Guard or com-mercial radio station. As quickly as possible this data is for-warded to Washington, D. C., to the National Analysis Centerof the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationINOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oper-ates the National Weather Service.

As the information is received at headquarters, weatherexperts start revising their maps. Four times a day a new mapis put on the facsimile machine to be broadcast so all the infor-mation is available to all who want to receive it. Many of theships have facsimile receivers, but others simply take the basicinformaticm over the radio and draw their own map.

There are hundreds of ships, both U.S. and foreign flag,which make regnlar reports under the auspices of the NationalWeather Service. The report goes to a U.S. station if the shipis nearby. If the ship is near Europe or the Far East, the reportwill go to other weather offices for compilation and distributionto the major forecasting centers. All of this information isexchanged between countries.

Separate maps released by NOAA are for the NorthernHemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere and show the

PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

isobars, wet and dry bull) thermometer readings, wind direc-tion and velocity and sea conditions.

T tlIS MAY SOUND involved, and certainly it is difficult to keepthis flow of information going in two directions, and that

is where Julius Soileau fits into the big picture. Each day hechecks all the ship arrivals and visits all the cooperating ves-sels. He also talks to the officers of other ships to get theircooperation.

Soileau (pronounced Swallow) is a quiet, unassuming manwho is at ease on the ships and makes friends easily. First hecontacts one of the ship’s officers and then he makes his wayto the chart room, usually accompanied by the second or thirdmate, tile men who are responsible for navigation and weatherreporting.

Every weather instrnment on board is checked by Soileauagainst his portable instruments. If adjustments are required,Soileau does whatever is necessary and then puts a seal onthe face of the iustrmnent to show it is reading correctly. Sinceweather reporting requires special forms, these are supplied bySoileau during his visits.

"Besides benefitting the commercial ships, this exchange ofweather information is also helpful to people ashore," Soileaupointed ont. "Much of the weather comes from the ocean andthe reports from ships give us an early warning of oncomingweather."

Soileau has worked for the National Weather Service for 23years, six of which have been as Port Meteorological Officer.He worked in New Orleans before coming to Houston threeyears ago. His work here is directly under Ervin A. Volbrecht,meteorologist in eharge at Houston.

AS SOILEAU WAS MAKING his rounds at the Port of Houstonlast month a hurricane wa~ churning across the Gulf of

Mexico."Any of lhe ships in port today might be in a position to

radio us vital information about this hurricane or the nextone," he said. "Of course, hurricanes are so vicious that it isimperative that ~c learn as much as possible about them."

Soileau is checking the ship’s barometer with his standard barometer tobe sure that weather readings from the ship will be accurate.

OCTOBER, 1974

Captain A. C. DeBoer of the S.S. JOSEPH LYKES, is presented a compre-hensive book on tropical storms at sea by Julius Soileau.

An international group of scientists from 14 nations is work-ing with information from ships, satellites and a dozen instru-mented aircraft in an effort to find the trigger mechanism forhurricanes. Dr. Guy Francesschini, professor of meteorologyat Texas A. & M. U~’fiversity, is one ~f the leaders partieipatingin the global atmospheric research program in the tropicalAtlantic Ocean, from 10 degrees South to 20 degrees Northlatitude.

In addition to his own research, x~hich is to measure theatmosphere effects on waves and currents at sea, Francesschiniis also chief scientist aboard the Research Vessel H. J. It-’.FAY, working about 500 miles south of Cape Verde Islands.

"Large dusters of chmds sometimes develop into hurricanes.They act like chimneys that shoot energy into the higher levelsof the atmosphere. We want to find out what is the differ,metbetween clusters that dexelop into hurricanes and those thatdon’t.

"We hope that we can get a handle on the triggering de-vices," Francesehini said. "If ~e understand it we can beginto make predictions."

On board the research x essel are scientists from the FederalRepublic of Germany making measurements of the temper-ature and humidity distribution in the lowest 1,000 meters ofthe atmosphere with instrumented balloons.

A group from England will determine the sea state andanother will photographically track balloons.

"We will also do water profiles of currents, temperature andsalinity for some German scientists with a device that oper-ates up and down like a yo-yo" Franceschini said.

Dr. George Huebner, professor of meteorology, who builtmuch of the electronic equipment, accompanied Franeesehinl.Carroll Brunson and William Green, from the oeeanograph?department, serw~d as technicians on the cruise.

C. A. Rousser, Jr., center, visits with E. Chemtob and C. Hornbostel, bothof Continental Grain Company at the Downtown Athletic Club.

!

R. Fitzgerald, left, and J. Jessen, second from right, both of E. I. Dupont,with J. Kerr, Don Sloane and C. Hofsiss, all of Bethlehem Steel.

Eastern Shippers EntertainedBy Port of Houston OfficialsThe Port of Houston entertained a few Eastern area shippers

recently at two luncheons in New York City and one in Phila-delphia. Hosts for the get-togethers were C. A. Rousser, Jr.,general sales manager; Edward P. Moore, Eastern sales man-ager, and Frank Ward, Eastern district sales manager. Thefirst group was entertained at the Downtown Athletic Club andthe second was at tile New York Traffic Club. The third

luncheon was at the Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia. ]dentifica-tions are from left to right, unless otherwise indicated.

Vonnahme of N. L. Industries, Inc.Ed Moore, center, visits with H. Nickelsberg of Rozel Packing and Bob

H. Ruhl of U.S. Steel is with Frank Dougherty and Curtis Merritt, AmericanSmelting and Refining.

Henry Graebner of J. M. Huber Corp., center, with Rousser and Ward.

Frank Ward, right with L. Batista and Ed Suther[and, both of U.S. Plywood/Champion Paper.

Guests at the New York Traffic Club luncheon included Vince Viscardi,Petrobras; Jeff Morris, International Ore and Fertilizer, and J. Ramilo, ItabiraInternational

10 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

N. Cohen of Price and Pierce, Inc., with Jerry Grill, Central NationalCompany and Moore.

.w .Frank Ward, right, talks to A. Nakamura and R. Parr, both of Toyomenka,

Inc.

Bill Hueston of International Ore & Fertilizer with R. Miller and H. Wong,both of Itabira International.

Sal Contlno of Kennecott Copper Company, Tony Vinci, InternationalGeneral Electric and Art Viterito, C. Tennant & Sons.

W. Vollmann of Pan American Trade Development talks with Rousser.

At the Philadelphia luncheon were Bill Schapers of Woodward & Dicker-son, Rolf Norbom of Philco Ford Corporation and Glenn E. Flinn of Subaruof America, Inc.

Frank Quinn of Stein Hall & Co., center, is with R. Swoger and W. Leach,both of Alcoa International.

Dick Devenney of Sperry-New Holland, Doug Coe and J. Boyd Como, Jr.,both of Sun Oil Company.

OCTOBER, 1974 11

12

Port of Houston

6

By TED SUMERLIN

p RESIDENT WOODROW WILSON was presiding at a meeting ofhis cabinet at the White House on November 10, 1§14.

Shortly before noon he excused himself and crossed the roomto a table on which a switch, beautifully embellished withpearls, had been installed.

Exactly at noon, President Wilson pressed the button whichtransmitted an electrical impulse hundreds of miles to a cannonon the banks of Buffalo Bayou near the thriving little city ofHouston, Texas.

It was a beautiful day in Houston and thousands of peoplehad gathered near the bayou. The tense quiet was shattered bythe blast of a cannon and the sound reverberated between thehigh banks of the stream.

The people shouted and cheered and a brass band soundedoff as the smoke from the shot wafted down Buffalo Bayou,which at that moment had been transformed officially into theHouston Ship Channel.

In Washington, President Wilson waited a moment andturned to an aide and asked, "Did she fire ?" The aide sent atelegram to Houston repeating the President’s qnestion. Ananswer was quickly returned:

"The Ship Channel Is Open !"The thousands of people who attended that memorable

"Deep Water Jubilee," cheered again as Miss Sue Campbell,daughter of Houston’s Mayor Ben Campbell, walked to thedeck railing of the U.S. Revenue Cutter WINDOM and tosseda floral wreath of white roses into the water and said:

"I christen thee Port of Houston and hither the boats of allnations may come and receive hearty welcome."

This dramatic ceremony was one of the first of many excit-ing events at the Port of Houston, which will observe itssixtieth anniversary on November 10. For many of those 60years Houston has been ranked as one of the top three ports inthe United States. But achieving that position was not easy.

From the very first it was recognized that Houston, althoughlocated 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, would have to be-come a port before it could fulfill its destiny to become amajor city.

The city of Houston was founded in 1836 by the AllenBrothers, who xx.ere land developers. They named the city aftertheir friend and Texas’ biggest hero, Sam Houston, who hadjust won the territory’s independence from Mexico.

The Allens hired a surveyor by the name of Gall Borden tolay out the streets of the city, starting at the South bank of

Early Voyages To Houston Were AdventurousmaT OF HOUStoN MAGAZINE

9hip Channel Is

0Old

Buffalo Bayou. Bordcn was later to gain fame as the inventorof condensed milk.

Land sales got off to a slow start despite the glowing pre-dictions of the Aliens that this wouht become the "greatinterior commercial emporium of Texas." To prove to manydisbelievers that the bayou was navigable and could carrytrade, the Aliens arranged for Captain Thomas Wigg Graysonto sail his packet steamer LAURA up Buffalo Bayou to thenew townsite.

Although the LAURA was the smallest steamboat along theTexas coast, tim land promoters themselves were somewhatdoubtful that Captain Grayson would be able to navigate his85-foot boat all the way to Houston. They did not, however,realize the captain’s determination.

SAILING TItE STEAMER across Galveston Bay was fairly un-eventful because the boat went aground only a few times.

It was easy sailing once the LAURA reached Buffalo Bayouuntil the boat passed the town of Harrisburg, about five milesbelow Houston.

No boat, except Indian canoes, had ever been above Harris-burg, so Captain Grayson had to force the bow of his boatamong the bushes and trees that lined the bayou. It is said thaton more than one occasion a crewman had to take an oar tothe nose of an inquisitive alligator. The several passengers onboard lent a hand to use what was called a Spanish windlassto move fallen trees from the water so the boat could moveforward.

Three days after leaving Harrisburg the tortuous voyageended on January 22, 1837. when tim LAURA tied up at thefoot of Main Street in Houston. The passengers and crew cele-brated that evening by going to a dance where the jubilantsettlers were hosts and hostesses.

Some fi~e months later, the Aliens hired a second steamer tocome into Houston. This was the CONSTITUTION, a 150 footlong stern wheeler that displaced 262 tons. but not to be eon-fu~cd with the U.S. Navy’s frigate by the same name whichwas known as "Old Ironsides."

The CONSTITUTION worked its way to Houston, but thebayou was so narrow that it was impossible to turn around.The ship’s cal)tain ordered the vessel to back down to a widebend near Harrisburg uhere the ship was turned with ease.T-day Ihat wide bend is the Port of Houston’s world-famous

But F, itizens Were lletermined To Have a PortOCTOBER, 1974 13

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiii~~~ iiiiiiii!i!iiiiiiii

Once Bufi~alo Bayou became passable the business in Houston became at-tractive to operators of small vessels.

Turning Basin, head of deepsea navigation, where many of theships calling at Houston still turn around.

The Allen brothers so publicized the arrival of the first twoships at Houston, that other venturesome captains started reg-ular runs into the settlement to sell goods.

Although times were hard, Houston continued to attractmore people, most of whom arrived on boats. On June 10,1841, City Council passed an ordinance establishing the Portof Houston and set wharfage rates ranging from $1 to $6 pervessel for the first day. Charles T. Gerlach was appointed thefirst wharfmaster.

Ships brought in food and supplies for the settlers and soonthey started taking out a few bales of cotton. In 1839 theyshipped eight bales, but by 1842 this had jumped to 4,260bales.

In those days it was much easier to travel by water thanland. One visitor was so amused by the terrain he wrote "un-less the roads are infinitely better than when I last passed overthem, no wagon can be drawn over them.

"They were then impassable,Not even Jack-assable."

To overcome this problem, the first Congress of the Republicof Texas granted the Texas Railroad, Navigation and BankingCompany a charter to build a railroad from Houston north-ward. This and several other attempts failed, but finally in1853 the first railroad began operating.

In the meantime, General Sidney Sherman, who came fromMassachusetts to help fight for Texas independence, settled atwhat is now Morgans Point, where the Port of Houston pres-ently is starting to build a $100 million port complex for con-tainer and barge carrying ships. Sherman could visualize thepossibilities of bringing larger ships into the area so in 1847he acquired the assets of the old Harrisburg Town Company.

SHERMAN HAD A SURVEY made of the Galveston Bay approachto Buffalo Bayou and he was convinced that the sand bars

could be dredged for between $25,000 and $30,000, so he triedto get an appropriation from Congress to cover the expense.

Money was slow in coming. It was not until 1853 that thestate appropriated $4,000 each to Buffalo Bayou and SanJacinto River, which flows into the bayou at San JacintoBattleground, near Galveston Bay. The first sizeable allotmentcame in 1856 and amounted to $350,000 for the encourage-ment of navigation in Texas.

14

An atractlve park has been built at the "foot of Main Street" on the siteof the original Port of Houston. Appropriately the park is called Allen’sLanding.

Wharfage fees from the small vessels were used to clear thetrees and snags from Buffalo Bayou. The first dredge was builtin 1856 to speed up the project.

During this era rivalries grew up between the ship captainsserving Houston. One pair had a race from Houston to Gal-veston, but tragedy struck near the end of the race as theboiler exploded in one of the vessels and an estimated 36people were killed. General Sherman, who was on board, nar-rowly missed death as he was blown into the water. Thisstarted a new trend toward safety, which even now remainsimportant to everyone using the Houston Ship Channel.

Because of the availability of shipping, business in Houstoncontinued to improve. Cotton became the big export, a positionit held for many years until petroleum products jumped to theforefront. However, it was in 1874 that the Houston Board ofTrade was organized to systematize the cotton business. (SeePort of Houston Magazine, June, 1974.)

It was at this time that Commodore Charles Morgan, whobad amassed a fortune during the Civil War, built up his fleetsailing between New Orleans and Galveston. He also becameinterested in Houston, so he decided to construct a nine-footchannel 120-feet wide from Galveston Bay to Houston. He alsostretched a chain across Morgan’s cut and no ship was per-mitted to pass until it paid a toll.

Morgan spent a large part of his fortune to build a railconnection between New Orleans and Houston with the idea ofdiscontinuing his ship service. But Morgan died in 1878, twoyears before the rail link was completed. Morgan’s heirs dis-continued the toll fee at Morgan’s Cut when the Morgan shipswere pulled out. This, of course, caused the fledgling port’stonnage to plummet.

HOUSTON1ANS STILL BELIEVED that the citv could become aport if it could get deep water so the larger vessels could

call. To push this in Congress, a newly-elected representative,Tom Ball, was advocated for a position on the Rivers and Har-bor Committee. To everyone’s surprise the freshman Congress-man was named, but it was 1900 before his efforts were re-warded with an appropriation.

While the U. S. Army Engineers were surveying BuffaloBayou, a young man by the name of Charles Crotty signed onas a civilian employee in April, 1904. He was later to join thePort and become a valued employee. One of the fireboats isnamed in his honor. It was this survey that resulted in the

PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

A load of coal on board the DOROTHY was the first cargo to arrive a!the Port of Houston after the Ship Channel was opened.

The SATILLA, first ship to call at the Port of Houston on a regular schedulein 1914, is tied up at Wharf 1 while another ship is being towed to thedock.

Engineers recommending that the head of navigation beswitched from Main Street to Constitution Bend near Harris-burg because the two towns had grown until they were almostone.

Crotty was assigned to lay out the Turning Basin, which wasdredged to a width of 600 feet. The Ship Channel was dredgedto a depth of 181/, feet, but this coincided with an economicrecession, so there was little construction activity for severalyears.

Tile interim was used to gain passage of a state law permit-ting the formation of navigation districts. On January 10,1910, the Harris County Houston Ship Channel NavigationDistrict was created by the voters.

Since construction was dragging, a delegation from Houstonwent to Washington to talk to the I{ivers and Harbors Com-mittee about funds to dredge the channel to a 25-foot depth.The Houstonians surprised everyone by offering to split thecost of the project with the government, a precedent whichstill is used for many projects.

Congress agreed, so the Houstonians went home and calledfor a $I.25 million bond election for the new Navigation Dis-trict. With this money, work began early in 1912 and wascompleted 27 months later, in September, 1914. This was justcause for a celebration, because the entire county had beeninvolved in the drama of building a deep water port. Theclimax, of course, was when President Wilson fired the cannonto open the Port of Houston.

But having a port does not automatically mean that youhave commerce so the inventive Houstonians came up withsome novel plans to develop traffic.

The first steamship to navigate the new Ship Channel actu-ally tied up in Houston on October 12, 1914, a month beforethe formal opening of the port. Master of this ship, theDOROTHY, was Capt. W. L. Farnsworth. The vessel was 240feet long and drew 19 feet of water when it arrived with 3,000tons of coal from Philadelphia. Another vessel, the schoonerWILLIAM C. MAY, also eame into port before the dedication.

When the DOROTHY tied up at Houston’s one and onlywharf, a 19-year-old boy by the name of Blakely Smith waswaiting to help unload the coal. As an employee of J. H.Carroll, a coal merchant, Smith worked on the ship severaldays. A barge crane between the ship and the wharf was usedto move the coal direct from ship to a gondola ear alongside.

The coal was then taken by rail to many towns around thestate.

Smith said tie remembered that Captain Farnsworth had hiswife and son on board. The son. who moved to Houston withhis parents soon thereafter, is captain Walter L. Farnsworth,the cargo surveyor who proudly points out that the Port ofHouston’s new fireboat was named in honor of his father.

After graduating from ]Rice Institute, Smith served fouryears in the Navv during World War I and then he returnedto Houston where he operated as a ship’s agent and stevedoreuntil the depression. He has since been active in ship designingand as a marine consultant. He is one of 27 honorary lifemembers in the Society of Naval Architects and Engineers.

FOLLOWlNC THE FroST flurry of activity ships tied up onlyonce in a while at the Port of Houston for several months

after the channel was opened. A group of port backers hit upona plan to try to get a regular coastwise service. They had 100citizens sign a note promising to pay $i,000 each to theSouthern Steamship Company if the line lost money in givingHouston the new service.

Colonel II. H. Baker and his son Burke Baker refused theguarantee and inaugurated the service by scheduling as thefirst ship the SATILLA, a 312-foot-long ship which drew 22feet of water.

A severe hurricane swept over the Galveston-Houston areajust before the ship was due, completely ruining one of thecelebrations that Houston was becoming famous for in eachphase of the development of the port.

A day late, the SATILLA arrived on August 22, i915, aftercarefully navigating the channel which had very few buoys leftin place by the storm. About 2,000 people met the ship when ittied up at the Turning Basin. The SATILLA was followed byfour other ships of the Southern Steamship fleet which startedcalling at Houston on a regular basis, actually giving Houstonthe port for which it had been striving for so many years.

Thus, a port born in the mind of man, nurtured by citizenryintent on bringing commerce 50 miles inland, has grown yearby year until it is recognized today as one of the great ports ofthe world and the third largest port in the United States. Andbecause those far-sighted pioneers did bring commerce toHouston, commerce has made Houston the nation’s sixthlargest city and the center of industry, finance and culture inthe South.

OCTOBER, 1974 15

The Reverend Ray Strange, left, in charge oftraining programs at the Houston International

Seamen’s Center, headed the seminar asdirector of training. He is shown here in theCenter’s foyer chatting with Ran Bollnger ofSan Pedro, California; Father George R. Dawsonof the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York

and Newark, and Father Rivers Patout, Chair-man of the Ministry Committee to the Port ofHouston and a Director and early organizer

of the Houston Center.

Sea men’s Center Has Tra in ing Sem ina rTHE PORT Or HOUSTON’S unique non-denominational International S e a m e n’ sCenter continues to attract seamen fromall over the world and is serving as atraining school for seamen’s center work-ers from coast to coast.

Recently the Center completed an in-tensive seminar training program for re-presentatives from seamen’s centers inBoston, New York and Newark, and SanPedro, California, at the same time itsstaff was handling an average of nearly6,000 seamen a month from the variousships calling at the Port of Houston.

The seminar was sponsored by theHouston Seamen’s Center, the RomanCatholic Apostleship of the Sea and theInternational Council of Seamen’s Agen-cies. It emphasized ship visiting; wor-ship-counseling and recreation at theCenter, and community and church re-lationships of the Center in promotingan international, inter-faith support fromthe total community.

The Rev. Roy Strange, Presbyterian,training program director of the Hous-ton Center, was in charge of the semi-nar assisted by the Reverend RiversPatout, Roman Catholic, and the Rever-end James Scott, Episcopalian. Thereare nearly a dozen chaplains serving atthe Center on a full or part time basis,representing all denominations includingProtestant, Episcopalian, Roman Cath-olic. Greek Orthodox and Jewish.

The Rev. George R. Dawson, Chap-lain of the Seamen’s Church Instituteof New York and Chaplain-Manager of

16

tile Seamen’s Church Institute at Ne-wark, New Jersey, was one of the semi-nar students who spent nearly threeweeks here. With him was Ron Bolinger,a third-year Lutheran seminary studentwho is working at the Seamen’s Centerin San Pedro, California, and AndrewKrey, another third-year Lutheran semi-nary student, from Boston, who is stay-ing on for a year’s internship at Hous-ton following the seminar training. InBoston, he worked with the Boston Sea-men’s Friends Society.

A typical month at Houston’s Inter-national Seamen’s Center will findnearly 6,000 seamen using the facilitiesof the million-dollar complex. The Cen-ter provides a magnificent building withmeeting rooms, game rooms, chapel,handicraft rooms, library, a eommissary,snack bar and beer lounge. In additionit offers an olympic sized swimmingpool, soccer field, baseball diamond,running track and volley ball court onits eight acres of ground lying behindWharf 23 on the north side of the Portof Houston’s Turning Basin area.

The Center, with its staff of chaplainsand lay volunteers, provides pickup ser-vice to vessels in port, following visitsto every ship by the chaplains to informthe officers and crews of the free servieesthey offer. In addition, the Center’s busmakes trips to the Manned SpacecraftCenter and other points of interest inHouston.

Last month there were 11 such tripsin addition to 10 soccer games betweencrews of different ships, 19 worship

services in the ecumenical chapel, 122bus pickups of 1300 seamen, and hos-pitality arrangenlents with Houston fam-ilies who entertained more than 50 sea-men in their homes.

Because of its proximity to many ves-sels, most seamen can walk to the Centerand do not need to be picked up, but thebus calls for those on the South Side ofthe Turning Basin and also those onvessels at terminals located further downchannel.

Houston’s Center is a non-profit en-terprise which depends on revenue fromits commissary, snack and beer bar andfrom payments by the steamship linescoming into the Port, about 40% ofwhich contribute $20 per ship per call.Most of the help is voluntary and thesalaries of all chaplains are paid by theirindividual denominations, but even sothe Center is hard-pressed to meet itsbone-bare budget of about $12,000monthly.

Contributions from citizens, civicgroups and maritime interests are taxdeductible and help make up the fundswhich allow the Center to operate on abarely break-even basis. There is nocharge to the seamen for use of anyof the facilities, and they pay only forfood, drink and articles purchased inthe commissary.

At the Center they find periodicalsand books in their own language as wellas sports recreation, indoor games, tele-vision and, if they desire, guidance,counseling and re(igions services, allcompletely optional.

PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE

BUREAU PROPOSAL ON RAILROAD RATE rela-tionships remain under considerationby transcontinental railroads: A Bureau-initiated rate change proposing to amendexport-import rates in Trans-Continentalrailroad tariffs, is still under considera-tion by the Trans-Continental FreightBureau. The proposal had previously beenapproved by the TCFB, and was reconsideredat a July public hearing. After the Julyhearing, the railroads continued thesubject on the docket for the Septembermeeting.

BUREAU WITNESS CROSS-EXAMINED on rebuttaltestimony in European mini-bridge proceed-ing: At an August 26 hearing before theFederal Maritime Commission a Bureauwitness was cross-examined on the Bureau’srebuttal testimony in FMC Docket 73-61et al., the FMC investigation into Sea-train’s European mini-bridge rates andservices. The Bureau’s testimoney stressedthe differences in rates via the all-waterservice and via Seatrain’s mini-bridgeservice, along with the resulting diverson.The next step in the investigation is thefiling of further rebuttal evidence, ifany.

BUREAU FILES OBJECTIONS to cancellationof 25,000 pound cotton rates in Texas: TheBureau has filed objections to a South-western Freight Bureau application pro-posing to cancel existing 25,000 poundrates on cotton within Texas. The Bureau,after polling Houston cotton interests,determined that the rates were being used.The Southwestern Freight Bureau will setthis docket for public hearing in the nearfuture. The Bureau is preparing materialfor presentation at the hearing.

FMC DIRECTS STEAMSHIP LINES TO submitmaterial on cotton shipments to the FarEast: The Federal Maritime Commission, inorders served August 29, directed steam-ship lines operating from the U.S. Gulfand Atlantic to the Far East to providespecific information concerning the trans-portation of cotton to the Far East. Theinformation being sought by the FMC covers

the period of August i, 1972 to July 31,1973 and includes the following:

i. The volume of cotton carried on eachsailing and the rate charged.

2. The total revenue tons carried oneach voyage.

3. The unused capacity by volume andweight on each voyage, and

4. The number of vessels employed in thetrade in addition to regular scheduledvessels.

FMC INVESTIGATION INT0 FAR EAST mini-bridge rates - update: Port interests,including the Fort of Houston Authority,the Port Bureau, the state AttorneyGeneral’s office and other complainingparties are presently analyzing steamshiplines’ answers to information requests inconnection with the FMC investigation intoFar East mini-bridge rates and services.Analysis of this information is necessaryfor the filing of direct testimony by thecomplaining parties. Complainant’s directtestimony is to be filed by January 15,1975. Public hearing on this testimony willbe held February ll, 1975 in Washington.FMC Law Judge Marshall has denied a requestof several complaining parties for furtherinformation from steamship lines providingmini-bridge service.

RAILROADS TO WITHDRAW PROPOSAL for newrules tariff on extra dimension traffic:Proponents have withdrawn an applicationto establish a new rules tariff settingforth rules and charges for special serviceapplicable for account of all Southwesternand Western Trunk Lines carriers, ontraffic moving within, between, and viathose territories.

* . .WESTERN RAILROADS HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS

on proposed changes in transit rules: TheWestern Railroad Traffic Association heldhearings September 25 and September 27 ontwo proposals to change rules on transitshipments. In the two dockets, railroadspropose to assess an additional chargeequal to the difference in the currentthrough rate and the through rate in effectat the time of initial movement from originto transit station.

OCTOBER, 1974 21

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III

Which mode is best for your cargo?BULK [] BREAK-BULK [] CONTAINER [] BARGE [] UNITIZED []

You can take your choiceat LYKESBon’t be restricted to one cargo-carrying

method. At Lykes, we’re up to the minutein specialization, but we haven’t phased out any cargo mode that has practicalmodern-day use. Our ship mix, Prides, Pacers, Clippers, Andes and SEABEE,all 41 of them, are modern, fast, capable and highly diversified. Select thecargo carrying method best suited to your needs -Lykes will carry it that way.

Lykes offers the economyof direct, all-water servicesto and from the Gulf ofMexico ... plus directSEABEE service to interiorpoints in the U.S. andEurope.

Limited Passenger Accommodations

Lykes LinesLYKES BROS. STEAMSHIP CO., INC.

Growing with the Lykes Youngstown Corporation

Offices at: New Orleans, Houston,Galveston. New York, Beaumont, Chicago,Dallas, Kansas City, LakeCharles, Mernphis,Mobile, St. Louis, San Francisco,Washington, D.C.Offices and Agents in Principal World Porls

Nine Haymasters from the OwatonnaManufacturing Company in Owatonna, Minnesota,were loaded from the rail car to a barge at thePort of Houston recently, destined for RioGrande, Brazil. Shipped by Dalton, Cooper &Gates Corp., the agricultural machinery wasloaded on board the DELTA NORTE, one of theDelta Steamship Lines’ new LASH vessels. F. J.Herbelin Company was the freight forwarder.

July ShipmentsShow Increase

The Port of Houston recorded thebest month so far this year in July witha total cargo mow~ment of 8,045,068tons, 22.3 per cent betler than Juneand 1.3 per cent over July of last year.

Heavy bulk grain shipments, exceed-ing 1.3 nfillion tons, helped make themark, but bulk crude oil imports anddomestic shipment of refinery productswere major factors.

General cargo activity showed up wellduring the month. Both import generalcargo, with unexpectedly high receiptsof steel products, and exports, across-the-board, maintained good levels.

Ta Peng Line BuysMarchessini Line

The Greek tlag Marchessini Lines hasbeen purchased by Ta Peng lane ofTaiwan, ot)erators of a regular, inde-pendent fortnightly service betweenU.S. Gulf and Atlantic ports and theFar East.

The five Marchessini ships are beingturned over to Ta Peng as they arriveat Taiwan for registry changes to thePanamanian flag.

Ta Peng was started by P. C. Hsiao,now its chairman, with a 200-ton craft.The fleet now numhcrs 60 vessels total-ing almost one million tons deadweight.

The new purchase will be added tothe 13 ships previously operated by TaPeng. Plans call for three more shipsto be added hy Ta Peng, after whichfive ~essels u ill he withdrawn for otherTa Peng trades. Ewmtually there will beeight ships in the U.S./Far East run andeight will he employed in the Far East/li:urope trade.

Transnational Maritime, Inc. is theNew York representative h)r Ta PengLine.

GULF PORTS CRATING CO.Export PackingCommercioi~ilitaryBoxing--Crating--Processing

HOUSTON: 122S McCarty 67S-9101NEW ORLEANS: 1717 Tchaupitoulas 525-9936

22 PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE