Wade Battles tells Amanda Barber how opening a new terminal in Galveston Bay has expanded the port’s cargo capacity.

The opening of Port of Houston Authority’s (PHA) newest container terminal, Bayport, in January solved many problems. The growth in containerized cargo and the expansion of services coming into the Gulf pushed PHA’s existing container terminal at Barbours Cut beyond its design capacity. For the past year, PHA focused on developing an efficient infrastructure to accommodate the needs of its growing container customer base.

PHA’s operations became more expensive and inefficient in its throughput of containers and cargo, and customers were forced to make tough decisions regarding their shipments. “The container terminal was so conjested that customers had to unload their cargo faster,” said Wade Battles, managing director of PHA. “To turn the vessels quicker we had to restrict the amount of cargo coming through. It became an issue of forcing our customers to change their processes, which ends up costing them more money.”

One if by land
As any marine facility does not function by sea alone, one of the challenges in developing the Bayport Container Terminal was linking the terminal to other inter-modal connections. To facilitate train, plane, and truck trafficking, the management at PHA sat down with their customers and regulatory officials to find out the best way to approach the construction challenges.

“We worked with county officials, local departments of transportation, and our neighbors to discuss how this project would impact them,” Battles said. “In this particular case, it also impacted some residential neighborhoods.”

PHA started working with customers to develop technologies to increase efficiencies in tracking and organizing cargo. The port worked closely with companies such as Navis and LA King to develop technological links between the terminal and the inter-modal sector, including RFID and smart tags on cargo.

Although the steamship line and the shipper, not the port, normally drive those programs, PHA works closely with vendors and contractors to put the necessary equipment in place. “We discussed what it would take to accommodate individual RFIDs and smart-tag readers at our terminals,” said Battles. “We are in the preliminary stages now, making sure those activities don’t negatively impact our present operation.”

In working with Navis, PHA developed a computerized gate system at the Bayport terminal to identify containers. The system verifies containers are anticipated at the port, makes space for the containers in the yard, and matches them with their companion boxes. The technology will, most importantly, improve the efficiencies of regulating boxes by weight to improve transportation and loading times.

The full impact Bayport will have on the rest of the Port of Houston Authority’s terminals has not been realized. Battles said, however, he can already see where it’s going. “We will continue to move certain amounts of cargo to Bayport while reconfiguring and readdressing our other terminals to maximize their efficiencies.”

Two if by sea
PHA is focused on more than increasing operational efficiencies. One of the port’s primary concerns is environmental stewardship and paving a smooth road between industry and Mother Nature. When the 50-year project to widen and deepen the Houston Ship Channel began in 1998, PHA found an opportunity to use the materials dredged from the channel to develop new tidal marshes.
Traditionally the materials dredged are either dumped into the ocean or into a landfill. In working with the US Army Corp of Engineers, Texas Fish and Wildlife, the Galveston Bay Foundation, and environmental groups, PHA found traditional methods were no longer the best. The groups formed BUG, the Beneficial Uses Group, to decide if they could take a previously small venture and turn it into a larger scale project.

Prior to the development of BUG, the largest development of tidal marshes was about 40 acres. PHA currently has 2,000 acres of marsh and habitat in development and intends to build a total of 4,000 acres of inner tidal marsh when all is said and done. “We are going to continually build and expand the project to fully utilize our dredge material,” said Battles. “Galveston Bay is the second largest estuary after Chesapeake Bay, and we believe it is our duty to preserve that distinction.”

As the operator of a large industrial facility, PHA constantly works at balancing the needs of its customers, being a proactive steward to environmental issues, maintaining the economic engine its community depends on, and being a good neighbor.

“The port has to operate in a positive financial position to improve and upgrade our infrastructure and to be an economic engine for the community,” said Battles. “The new terminal, as with all of our projects, will be an ongoing opportunity as we find alternative ways to improve service to our customers.”