Nordana Line’sLatin America

Service Just Got Better !Now Serving All Major Latin American Ports

La

Nordana Line has added a sixth vessel to itsMediterranean & Latin America break bulk/container service !

Faster Transit Times !US Gulf to Costa Rica 7 daysUS Gulf to Guatemala 4 daysUS Gulf to Columbia 10 days

Venezuela to Houston 16 daysPanama to Houston 1 1 days

Guatemala to Houston 6 days

v’ More Ports of Call v’ Increased Frequencyv’ Faster Transit Times v’ Service That Can’t Be Beat

NORDANA LINEHoustonPh: 713-897-1500Fax: 713-897-1515

CharlestonPh:803-937-4050Fax:803-937-4054

New OrleansPh:504-528-3775Fax:504-528-3780

New YorkPh: 212-943-4406Fax: 212-742-1407

Volume 36

TFebruary 1994 Number 2

H. THOMAS KORNEGAY,Executive Director

GEORGE T. WlLLIAMSONManaging Director

F. WILLIAM COLBURNGeneral Counsel

ROSIE BARRERADirector of Public Affairs

JOHN P, HORANDirector of Port Operations

PERRY M. McGEEDirector of Facilities

JASON W. SIMPSONDirector of Protection Services

TOMMY J. TOMPKINSCounty Auditor

2Prepared for A Crisis

5Pilots Christen New Boat

THE PORT OF HOUSTON MAGAZINE is publishedmonthly by the Port of Houston Authority, P.O. Box2562, Houston, Texas 77252-2562, and isdistributed free to maritime, industrial and transpor-tation interests in the United States and foreigncountries

MAGAZINE STAFFCommunications Manager ......... Ria GriffinEditor Ann BordelonAdvertising Sales/Production Sheila AdamsArtist/Production Coordinator. Marcella CabreraWriter Susan HumphreyPhotographer Ray SotoSecretary Carol FinneilThis publication is not copyrighted and permissionis given for the reproduction or use of any originalmaterials, provided credit is given to the Port ofHouston Authority. Additional information, addresschanges, extra copies or advertising rates may beobtained by writing the PORT OF HOUSTONMAGAZINE.

7Four-Line Connection

DEPARTMENTSMeeting Calendar 9

Port Side 23

ON THE COVERHouston City Council Member Gracie Saenzchristens the Houston Pilots’ new SWATHDoat, which is the first vessel of its kind tobe used as a pilot boat,

PORT COMMISSIONERS

EXECUTIVE OFFICE111 East Loop NorthP.O Box 2562Houston, TX 77252-2562Phone: (713) 670-2400Fax: (713) 670-2429

FIELD OFFICES1650 Sycamore Ave.,

Suite 23Bohemia, NY 11716

Phone: (516) 244-3677or 244-7428

Fax: (516) 244-3757

Torre KLM, PenthouseAvda. Romulo Gallegos

Santa EduvigisCaracas 1071, Venezuela

Country & City Number: 58-2Phone: 283-1489

Fax: 283-2067Telex: 23875

NED HOLMES H.J. MIDDLETON ROBERT GILLETTE LEROY BRUNERChairman Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

C.C. SMITHERMAN J. MICHAEL SOLAR JOHN WEBB JR.Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

Barbours Cut Termin~d

Field Exercise Tests"" Response Plan

s home to one ofthe world’s larg-est petroleum andchemical com-

plexes, Houston has to be pre-pared to deal with hazardous ma-terial spills and other emergencies.Crises involving hazardous ma-terials are uncommon at the Portof Houston, but a little cautiongoes a long way when it comes tosaving lives and property.

Recently, Port of Houston Author-ity personnel staged a hazardousmaterial field exercise at BarboursCut Container Terminal. For a coupleof hours one Friday morning, a por-tion of Barbours Cut ContainerTerminal was thrust into an ima-ginary crisis. The drill primarilyinvolved personnel in two key PortAuthority divisions -- ProtectionServices and Operations.

Federal regulations require portand terminal operators to conductvarious types of hazardous ma-terials drills regularly. The simplestof these drills is the "table-top"exercise in which an organization’semergency response staff meetregularly to develop a written planfor responding to crises involvinghazardous materials. In a morecomplicated type of drill called afield exercise, companies practiceevacuating employees, containingthe spill and working with thelocal, state and federal agenciesthat might be called upon to con-tend with an accident.Crises Are Rare

"We handle just about any prod-uct you can think of at BarboursCut Terminal," says Roy Carlisle,terminal services manager. "In the17 years this terminal has been

open I don’t think we’ve ever hada real-life incident that threatenedthe community. But the field exer-cise allowed us to find out howwe would respond if an accidenthappened. We learned a lot aboutour strengths and about ourweaknesses."

The scenario for the field exer-cise was this: A truck driver ac-cidentally runs his truck cab into acontainer that holds 55-gallondrums of an unknown chemical.The driver, knocked out by theimpact of the collision or thefumes from the chemical, is foundunconscious and hunched over hissteering wheel.Spontaneity Stressed

"It was important that people’sreactions be spontaneous as possi-ble so that we could get a goodidea of how prepared we were,"

Left: Members of the P

Aothodly’s eme~elc

respoase team "lmlt Ill

for the field exercise

Right: A PHA employee,

posing as an Injured driver,

is removed on a stretcher.

says Jim Dillman, assistant managerof Barbours Cut Terminal. "Noneof the employees was told in ad-vance exactly what the entirescenario would be."

Dillman stood at the accidentscene and held up large flash cardsspelling out the circumstances ofthe imaginary incident (explainingthat a chemical had spilled from

the hit container and other impor-tant information) as the exerciseprogressed. Maintenance employeeEarl Cooper posed as the injuredtruck driver. Port Authority policeand firefighting personnel werecalled to the scene. Police fromthe nearby community of Morgan’sPoint and emergency medical per-sonnel from the town of La Porte

also participated.One of the first tasks was to de-

termine what chemical bad spilledfrom the container. Then, PHA fire-fighters and port police "suitedup," donned air tanks and gasmasks and proceeded to move theinjured, isolate the accident sceneand control traffic. Employees

(Continued on Page 15)

Right: PHA emergency

response personnel must

always be ready to go

Into action.

It Takes Dedication.

!

In our business, quality is adirect result of dedication. In everysense of the word.

It starts with a dedicated spirit,one you can witness firsthand everytime you watch our people workingtogether with a dedicated team effort.But at Ryan-Walsh, that spirit runs much deeper.It’s a company-wide commitment to succeed in theface of the weather, tight turnaround schedules,the specialized demands of loading and unloading,and all the other challenges presented in thelogistics chain.

You can see other hard evidenceof our dedication at each of our

locations - in the highly specializedequipment utilized for specificpurposes such as moving, handling

and tracking cargo.

But probably the most importantform of dedication may be one that’s shapingtomorrow. It’s our dedication to continuousimprovement, to finding better, faster ways ofproviding our quality customers with topquality service.

Ryan.Walsh°Ryan-Walsh, Inc.In Houston, contact:11811 East Freeway, Suite 555, 77029713/450-1610 ̄ FAX: 713/455-2875Serves Freeport and Brownsville, Texas

Stevedoring ¯ Cargo Handling ¯ Terminal Operations ¯ Packaging ¯ Distribution ̄ Logistics Management

Porl Partners

Pilots Christen New Vessel

he Houston Pilots Associationnow can count on smoothsailing, thanks to a specialpilot vessel the group recent-

ly acquired.The new boat is a small water-plane area

twin hull (SWATH, for short) vessel builtby SWATH Ocean in San Diego, Calif.The Houston Pilots is the first organiza-tion to use a SWATH vessel as a pilot boat.

"We took a chance by trying out thistechnology because we want to providebetter service for our customers and forourselves," says Capt. Robert Thompson,who served as Houston Pilots boatkeeperfor three years. As boatkeeper, he was re-sponsible for taking care of the associa-tion’s pilot vessels and monitoring theconstruction of new boats.A Smoother Ride

The pilots recently held a christeningceremony for the vessel, which isnamed HOUSTON. Houston City Coun-cil member Gracie Saenz christened thevessel with a bottle of champagne.

The boat measures 62.2 feet long and37 feet wide. It is powered by two Cater-pillar engines, each of which is rated at1,200 horsepower. The boat has a double

hull constructed of aluminum and hascanards, or stabilizers, to ensure asmoother ride. SWATH Ocean touts itsboat as "the ocean’s kindest ride," anda number of Houston pilots agree.

"The stabilizers keep the boat frompitching and rolling and give us a morecomfortable ride," says Thompson. "Wecan go at about 20 knotsconsistently. The boat’stop speed is 25 knots."One of A Few

The SWATH boat con-cept has been around sinceWorld War II, saysThompson, but the boatsaren’t common. The U.S.Navy operates a very largeSWATH boat, anotherSWATH is used in Hawaiifor dinner cruises, and theCanadian weather serviceowns a similar vessel.

Under U.S. law, anyvessel sailing international-ly must be taken in and outof U.S. ports by specially trained shiphandlers, or pilots. Houston has 52 fullpilots and eight deputy pilots. []

We’ll be therefor you.

We’ve been there for our .......customers for more than 100

Electronic Data Interchanl|e

A Four-Line Connection

our steamship lines areworking with the Portof Houston Authorityto develop an elec-

tronic data interchange (EDI)system for their joint service.

Houston is the first public port thatSea-Land, P&O, OOCL and Nedlloydhave worked with to develop thiskind of system. The lines share ves-sels for a service out of Sea-Land’sHouston facility, which is locatedat the Port Authority’s Barbours CutContainer Terminal.

"The ocean carriers have beenmeeting among themselves to lookfor ways to further the develop-ment of EDI and to promote effi-ciencies of service," says Sea-

Land’s Steve Kawakami, who hasbeen involved in the project fromthe start. "We felt that workingtogether with the Port Authoritywould be more convenient and ef-ficient than each of us workingseparately. We’ve found greatvalue in working together, and wehope the concept of working witha public port will catch on."First Public Entity

Some of the carriers in thevessel-sharing agreement have im-plemented EDI systems at privatelyoperated terminals; the Port ofHouston Authority is the firstpublic entity they have workedwith to develop such a system.

"This is a winning situation for

all of us," says Jim Eldridge, mana-ger of the Port of Houston Authori-ty’s management information serv-ices department. "The steamshiplines win because each of them won’thave to deal with us independentlyto develop an EDI system. And it’sa big win for the Port Authority be-cause we will bring four new car-riers on-line all at once. It’s aprime example of the real purposebehind EDI -- efficiency."

Once the four carriers go on-line, which will probably happenby mid-year, they will electronical-ly notify the Port Authority aboutcontainers destined for BarboursCut Terminal. The Port Authority

(Continued on Page 10)

The Port Authority has been working with Nedlloyd, OOCL, P&O and Sea-Land to develop anelectronic data Interchange system for the lines’ Joint service.

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Freight NetworkSelects Rotterdam

The Trans Pacific Freight Group, anetwork of freight forwarders,NVOCCs and customs brokersthroughout the world, has chosenRotterdam for its world headquarters.

Rotterdam was selected because itis a strategic location offering linkswith Canada, North and SouthAmerica, South and West Asia andAustralia, and because it will attractnew European companies. Rotter-dam also was chosen to help thegroup distinguish itself from otherglobal Asian and American networks.

The group planned to hold itsgeneral membership meeting inJanuary 1994.

The Trans Pacific Freight Groupconsists of more than 20 membercompanies with 39 offices world-wide. In the Houston area, thegroup may be contacted via FreightBrokers International Inc., 1235North Loop West, Suite 601, Hous-ton, TX 77008.

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Meeting Calendar

The Port of Houston Magazine pub-lishes the Meeting Calendar as aservice for local transportation-related organizations. Listings areprovided by the individual organi-zations and may be submitted orupdated by calling 670-2594 orwriting to P.O. Box 2562, Houston,Texas 77252-2562.

American Merchant Marine Vet-erans: Meets the second Tuesday ofeach month, 11 a.m. at Houston In-ternational Seafarers Center. Forinformation, call Jim Titus, 337-3131.

Council of American Master Mari-ners inc., Port of HoustonChapter: Meets third Thursday ofeach month at 11:30 a.m. at Brady’sLanding. For information, call JohnEliason, 681-2727.

Houston Customhouse Brokers &Freight Forwarders Association:Meets the third Wednesday of alter-nating months starting with January.For information, call 678-4300.

Houston Transportation Profes-sionals Association: Meets the sec-ond Thursday of each month, 11:30a.m. at the Holiday Inn CrownePlaza. For information, call JeanneHooke, 241-3555.

International MaintenanceInstitute-Sam Houston Chapter:Meets the third Tuesday of eachmonth, 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn atHobby Airport. For reservations, callJoyce Rhoden, 481-0869.

international Transportation Man-agement Association: Meets thesecond Wednesday of every monthat the Omni Hotel. For information,call Jolie Jourdan, 442-5001.

National Association of RailwayBusiness Women: Meets the thirdWednesday of each month. For in-formation, call Lois Dippel,546-3341.

National Defense TransportationAssociation: Meets the last Thurs-day of alternating months, startingwith February, 11:30 a.m. at Ka-phan’s. For information, call DonDavis, 338-6621.

Port of Houston Toastmasters:Meets every Wednesday at noon atthe Houston International SeafarersCenter. For information, call DoloresSalinas, 670-2551.

Port Safety and Advisory Council:Meets the first Thursday of alter-nating months starting with January,11:30 a.m. at the International Sea-farers Center at the Port of HoustonAuthority’s Turning Basin Terminal.For information or reservations, callEric Harvey, Lt. J.G., 671-5105.

Texas A&M University MaritimeAssociation: Meets the fourthWednesday of the month, 11:30a.m. at Brady’s Landing. For infor-mation, call Jim Moore, 928-5010.

Texas Business Travel Associa-tion: Meets the second Wednesdayof each month. For information, callTina Ruffeno, 236-4079.

Transportation Club of Houston:Meets the first Tuesday of eachmonth, 11:30 a.m. at the HyattRegency Hotel downtown. For infor-mation, call Tom Cooney, 686-0050.

U.S. Merchant Marine AcademyAlumni Association, HoustonChapter: Meets the first Thursday ofeach month, 11:30 a.m. at Brady’sLanding. For information, call JohnZemanek, 451-2711.

Women’s Transportation Club ofHouston: Meets the second Mondayof each month, 5:30 p.m. at Steakand Ale, Post Oak at Galleria. For in-formation, call Gina Zenor, 237-8682, or Ronda Wilkinson, 674-4400.

MIAMI~~t~L!NE kS P~GROM

Sailing Every 3 WeekseHouston & MiamieOther U.S. Gulf Ports on Inducement

uilla

Regional U.S.A. Agents:

~Smith & Johnson11821 1-10 East, Suite 630

Houston, Texas 77029Phone: (713) 455-1100Fax: (713) 455-5033

EDI¯ t e.oaoelleooee.eeeoeoaiteoeeeaeooo. I--e

(Continued from Page 7)will transmit to the lines informa-tion regarding gate moves at the ter-minal. Right now, the four linesenter information into the computermanually, and paper copies are car-ried by hand from office to office.System Requirements

EDI transactions for the vessel-sharing lines will resemble those ofsingle-carrier services in a numberof ways, but the manner in which

some of the data is handled will dif-fer. One challenge will be develop-ing a system that can keep track ofequipment for the joint service. Sea-Land operates its own private gateat Barbours Cut Terminal. Chassismay enter the terminal through theSea-Land gate and exit through thepublic Barbours Cut gate. Further-more, if P&O needs a chassis, theline may take from the pool thefirst chassis available, whether itbelongs to P&O or one of the othercarriers. Thus, it may arrive at the

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10

port under the P&O name and leaveunder the OOCL name.

"This can result in some trickysituations with regard to trackingequipment," says the Port Authori-ty’s Orin Rehorst, who is workingwith the four carriers to developthe system. "So we need to designa system that will accurately reflectwhat has transpired."

The Port Authority launched itsEDI system in 1992. Today, sixcompanies, known in EDI ter-minology as "trading partners," ex-change information with the PortAuthority electronically. The PortAuthority based its EDI system onnationally standardized criteria toensure consistency and minimizethe work that must be done eachtime a new trading partner is added.Rehorst estimates that, because ofstandardization, only about 20 per-cent of the set-up effort is spenttailoring an EDI system to meet aparticular trading partner’s needs.Lots of Cooperation

Right now, representatives of thecarriers in the joint service and thePort Authority’s management infor-mation services and operations staffare still putting the EDI programtogether. The lines have appointedrepresentatives to work on the proj-ect. Still, with as many as 18 peopleattending a planning meeting, onemight wonder how they all getalong.

"These people work togethervery well," says Rehorst. "There isvery little competitiveness in thisprocess. The carriers are strictly in-terested in operating more efficient-ly and more easily using computers.We’ve been impressed with theresources the companies havededicated to this project."

Shippers’ expectations of steam-ship lines are changing; so are theexpectations that lines place on portoperators. More and more lines areturning to vessel-sharing agree-ments, and ports must be preparedto adapt accordingly. EDI gives theport and the ocean carrier a tool forproviding customers the informa-tion they require faster and moreaccurately. []

PORT DATAMore than 72 million tons of importand export cargo moved through thePort of Houston in 1992.

New Service ConnectsU.S. Gulf and Mexico

Maersk Line is launching adedicated U.S. Gulf/Mexico servicethat includes fortnightly sailingsfrom Houston.

Vessels in the service call at Vera-cruz, Houston, New Orleans andKingston. The service provides alink with Maersk’s West Coast/SouthAmerica service at Kingston and of-fers direct access to Cartagena,Cristobal, Buenaventura, Callao,Arica, Iquique and San Antonio/Valparaiso.Service Details

The Gulf service will provide thefastest transit times in the trade,with only 20 days between calls atHouston and San Antonio north-bound and southbound. The fixed-day service will offer departuresand arrivals at Houston on Sundays.

The Gulf service will be fullycontainerized and will accept fullcontainer loads, LCL, refrigeratedand flat-rack shipments. For moreinformation, contact your localMaersk office or call (800) 833-8571.

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11

Dutch Frigate VisitsPort of Houston’sTurning Basin TerminalThe M/V BLOYS VAN TRESLONG,a guided missile frigate belongingto the Royal Netherlands Navy,recently stopped at the Port ofHouston Authority’s TurningBasin Terminal for a few days.The vessel was assigned toWillemstad for surveillance andmilitary exercises for six months;during that time, the vessel paidgoodwill visits to Houston andother ports in and near the Carib-bean. Public tours of the BLOYSVAN TRESLONG were offeredwhile the ship was in Houston.

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]2