December 2011 Port Bureau News

Port Bureau News December 2011

www.txgulf.org

2011 Vessel Movement Statistics Port Bureau Members Moving More Ships Traffic Management Optimization and Improvements

Spotlight on April Bailey Amegy Bank

GHPB Member Suderman and Young Towing Company assists the Iris Victoria as she arrives Photo Credit: Captain Louis Vest, Houston Pilots Association

Port Bureau Staff Bill Diehl Jeannie Angeli David Cooley Al Cusick Cristina Gomez Janette Molina Patrick Seeba

Board of Directors *Tom Marian—Chairman *Dennis Hansell—1st Vice Chair. *Mike Drieu—2nd Vice Chair. *John Taylor—Secretary /Treas. *Robert H. Blades *Alec Dreyer *Charles H. Flournoy *Capt. Steve Conway *Capt. John G. Peterlin III *Capt. Richard Russell *Steve Stewart *Nathan Wesely Jim Black Ken Burnett Celeste Harris Jason Hayley Kevin Hickey Guy W. Hitt Charlie Jenkins Shareen Larmond Kathy Murray Jerry Nagel Vinny Pilegge Nolan Richardson Lloyd Schwing Tim Studdert Lawrence Waldron Armando Waterland Don Welch *Denotes Executive Committee Members

Photo Credit: Captain Lou Vest, Houston Pilots Assn.

Captain’s Corner 00

Members and Colleagues, This month’s newsletter is a year-end review of what the Port Bureau has been working on for you. Basically we are focused on providing value to our members by doing three things:

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Provide them vessel movement information,

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Help them move more ships, and

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Keep them involved and informed on our community issues.

Vessel Information—if you are going to be in the maritime industry you have to have access to timely and accurate information about what is moving on the Ship Channel. We do that, not only for Houston, but all the ports in Texas. You’ll see some examples of our work products on the following pages. At 0400 every morning we send out a daily vessel movement sheet alerting our members of yesterday’s traffic. We also put out an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) report for the Texas ports to help with workforce planning. At the end of the month we summarize all the data and provide that to all our members to track business trends and keep them informed on who is moving what in the port.

With our information, operations and strategic planners can use our 10 years of data to make business decisions on everything from dock utilization to infrastructure investments.

Moving More Ships—we believe that if we can move 10 more ships a day then we all benefit from the agents to the pilots, from the tugs to the line handlers, and from the carriers to the terminals. We help do this by bring more business to the port and by helping to make the port more efficient. To bring more business we are out meeting trade delegations, setting up and participating in conferences, and helping with highlighting our collective strengths as a regional port community. To make the port more efficient we are involved in disseminating information, meeting with our government regulators, and sharing the Houston and GalTex Pilots’ information.

The sharing of the pilots’ information is done through our successful HarborLights program. In this newsletter you can learn more about the updates and optimization that we’ve done this year. I explain it this way, the reason Bush International Airport can move over 100,000 passengers a day is by disseminating information via their flat screen arrival/departure monitors. You enter the airport, look at the TV monitor and go to Concourse B, Gate 4, and know that you have to be there by 1100. The pilots, luggage handlers, food, fuel trucks, they all know this and make sure to be there on time. No one calls the tower and asks: “Where is my plane?” Well HarborLights does the same for our port by making sure everyone can see what ships are arriving and when. This not only increases our efficiency, but makes us more competitive as a port. We are not wasting money on idle work gangs, cargo surveyors, mooring/tug operations and other operators, we are on time and efficient with our operations. This gives us a leg up on competing ports.

Getting Members Involved—we are a community and like an orchestra or a football team, how well we work together on common issues determines our level of success. One of the key areas I focus on is getting people excited and involved in our maritime trade community. If they get excited about what we offer, then they make investments in our future. These investments take several forms from infrastructure – roads, rail and dredging to preparing our future work force—through our community educational programs. Obviously, our most pressing need is rallying our membership base to get our dredging needs met and we’ve dedicated substantial time and effort to furthering legislation that will keep Harbor Maintenance Tax funds in our nation’s ports and harbors.

I’m optimistic we can give you information you need, help you move more ships, and that we can work as a community. On the last topic, our membership over the past two years has grown from 95 companies to 140 and our spirit of competitive cooperation in this port is unmatched. I look forward to working with you in 2012 and thank you for your support.

Best regards and happy holidays,

2011: A Year of Steady Growth YTD (October) 2011, GHPB Member terminals are responsible for 6143 vessel arrivals or

89.6% of all Houston Movements.

Port Bureau Members Moving More Ships

As 2011 began, Tom Marian wrote in Port Watch that 2010 was a welcome respite from the doldrums of 2009. One year later, the port region is poised for a nearly 5% increase in vessel traffic as a host of factors from state population growth to the drilling booms at Eagle Ford and Bakkan fuel cargo surges to support the work of our maritime community.

Ten years ago, the Marine Exchange of the West Gulf advertised that “from a lookout station at Morgan’s Point, Marine Exchange personnel identify deepsea vessels and provide ship reporting services.” We’ve come a long way from binoculars, well worn copies of Lloyds Registry, and a fax line, and using the HarborLights vessel tracking program, and the resources of the Marine Information Services of North America (MISNA), the Port Bureau’s Marine Exchange has tracked over 12,700 vessel arrivals in the State of Texas this year, and we expect to see over 14,500 by year’s end. The lions share of activity was along the Houston Ship Channel where GHPB Member terminals are responsible for 89.6% of movements.

Every month, Port Bureau Members receive a detailed report of vessel traffic along the Houston Ship Channel and a summary of movement in Sabine, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport, Matagorda Bay, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville. In 2012, the monthly vessel movement summary will be expanded as the Marine Exchange utilizes new technology to track each ship.

Annual Vessel Movements (Total Arrivals/Sailings/Shifts)

The Ships Are Getting Bigger With a steady rise in vessel traffic, the Houston Region is seeing an even larger growth in cargo movement. Much of this is driven by the expanding size of vessels. While in 2001, the region only had 6 vessel calls which registered a gross tonnage over 63,500 GRT, YTD 2011 has already seen 182 vessels entering our waters with larger tonnage. Ten years ago, the largest vessel to arrive in Houston was less than 80,000 GRT while 2011 has seen seven vessels of over 90,000 GRT. Though still rare, the expanding market segment of these larger vessels points to a dramatic growth in the regional ability and demand for cargo.

So what are the biggest ships to visit Houston? Aside from the 100,000+ GRT cruise ships that visited after Hurricane Ike in 2008, the largest ships to visit Houston are the recently scheduled liners from MSC. Already this year, these 8,000 TEU, 90,000 GRT vessels have started their regular runs to the Port of Houston Authority’s Bayport Container Terminal.

FCC Develops Tool to Help Small Businesses Improve Cybersecurity As part of National Cybersecurity Month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski joined Department of Homeland Security, US Chamber of Commerce and several corporate executives to unveil a new FCC online tool—the Small Biz Cyber Planner.

The planner is an easy-to-use, free online tool that will create a customized planning guide to help small businesses protect themselves from cybersecurity threats. At the event, Symantec and The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) announced the results of a new survey finding only 52% of small businesses have cybersecurity plans or strategies. The survey also found 77% of small business do not have formal Internet security policies for employees.

The Small Biz Cyber Planner will ask a series of questions such as “Does your business use credit cards?” and “Does your business have a public website?” Based on the responses, it will generate a planning guide to help companies put in place basic policies to protect against cyberthreats.

“With larger companies increasing their protections, small businesses are now the low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals,” Genachowski said at an event to launch the tool. According to this study, 40% of companies do not have a plan if their businesses suffered data breach or loss, such as the loss of customer or employee information, credit or debit card information, or loss of intellectual property. The new tool will be available on the FCC website in November.

The Maritime Exchange of the Delaware River and Bay contributed this story.

Visit their website at www.maritimedelriv.com

2011 Greater Houston Port Bureau Members AET Inc. Limited Alphamar-IMW Amegy Bank American Shipping & Chartering AMI Staffing, Inc. Armamex International Bay-Houston Towing Co. Bell, Ryniker, Letourneau Best Bet Line Handlers Bertling Logistics Blades International Inc. Briggs & Veselka Co. Brown & Gay Engineers Inc. Buffalo Marine Cargill Marine Cargoways Logistics Central Healthcare Services Ceres Gulf Inc. Chaparral Stevedoring Co. Chipolbrok America Inc. Clark Freight Lines CLM Towing LLC Colliers International Consolidated Bonded Warehouse D'Onofrio Management Works Damco Distribution Services Dannenbaum Engineering Danner's Incorporated Det Norske Veritas Dowley Security Systems East End Chamber of Commerce Economic Alliance Houston Port Region

Empire Truck Lines, Inc. Enviro-Tech Ex Cargo Services Executive Shipping Services ExxonMobil Fire Protection Service Florida Transportation Foss Maritime Company Fr. Meyer's Sohn Logistics Frank Mohn Houston Inc. Frost National Bank G&H Towing GAC Shipping - Operations GAL-TX City Pilots Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. Greater Houston Partnership Greensport Industrial (ARMCO) Gulf Winds International, Inc. Gulf Gas Utilities Gulf Marine Supply Gulf Marine & Industrial Supplies Gulf Stream Marine, Inc. Harley Marine Services Hazelimpex HDR Engineering Inc. Hiller Systems, Inc. Houston Business Insurance Company Holiday Inn Houston Fuel Oil Terminal Co. Houston International Seafarer's Center Houston Mooring Co., Inc. Houston Pilots Houston Ship Repair ICIS Inbesa America, Inc. Inchcape Industrial Terminals Industrial Turnaround & Construction

Steamship Line Vessel Chandler Banking Services Steamship Agency Personnel Services Steamship Line Tug Services Law Firm Line Handling Services Project Services Consulting - Finance Accounting Services Consulting - Engineering Bunker & Towing Services Freight Forwarder Private Terminal Healthcare Services Stevedoring Operations Stevedoring Operations Steamship Line Trucking & Distribution Private Terminal Real Estate Services Warehousing Services Consulting - Management Trucking & Distribution Consulting - Engineering Security/Transport Classification Society Security/Transport Industry Association Industry Association Trucking/Distribution Marine Equipment Trucking & Distribution Consulting - Ops Private Terminal Marine Equipment Private Terminal Tug Services Steamship Agency Steamship Agency Banking Services Tug Services Steamship Line Pilot Organization Law Firm Marine Salvage Industry Association Private Terminal Trucking & Distribution Natural Gas Distribution Vessel Chandler Vessel Chandler Stevedoring Operations Tug Services Warehousing Services Consulting - Engineering Marine Equipment/Training Insurance Services Hotel/Restaurant Private Terminal Industry Association Line Handling Services Pilot Organization Marine Repair Publication Private Terminal Steamship Agency Private Terminal Consulting - Engineering

Inert Gas Services, Inc. Intercontinental Terminal Company LLC Intergulf Corporation Iv INFRA USA J Peter & Associates Jacintoport International J.A.M. Distributing Company Jo Tankers Inc. John L. Wortham & Son KinderMorgan (Liquids Terminal) Kirby Corporation LBC Houston, LP Manchester Terminal Corp.

Mare Liberum Consulting, Inc. Marine Healthcare Services Mediterranean Shipping Company Midpoint Partners, LLC Moran Gulf Shipping Agencies, Inc. Morris Export Services Nordic Tankers (Texas) Norton Lilly International NSA Agencies NuStar Energy Ocean Shipholdings, Inc. Odfjell USA Oiltanking Houston LP Port Isabel/San Benito Port of Brownsville Port of Freeport Port of Galveston Port of Harlingen Port of Houston Authority Port of Texas City Port of Umatilla Port of Victoria Port Terminal Railroad Assoc.

Ports America Texas, Inc. Quality Management Int'l. Inc. R. W. Smith & Co., Inc. Richardson Stevedoring & Logistics Rickmers Linie Royston Rayzor Vickery & Williams SAVAGE Schroder Marine Services Inc. Shell Shippers Stevedoring Co. Shrader Engineering Inc. SA/GC District ILA Southport Agencies, Inc. Southern Export Services St. Joseph Medical Center Suderman & Young Towing Co. Targa Downstream Services TASC Texas Mooring, Inc. Texas Terminals, L.P. The ACTion Group Companies Transmarine Navigation Co. TranSystem Trustmark National Bank URS Corporation Vopak North America West Gulf Maritime Assn.

Whitney National Bank Wild Well Control Wilhelmsen Ship Service Wm Morris Enterprises World Chandlering International World Ship Supply/Wrist USA ZIM American Integrated Shipping

Marine Equipment Private Terminal Waste Management Consulting - Engineering Executive Search Private Terminal Fuel Oil Supplies Steamship Line Insurance Services Private Terminal Bunker & Towing Services Private Terminal Private Terminal Consulting - Technology Healthcare Services Steamship Line Consulting - Engineering Steamship Agency Warehousing Services Steamship Line Steamship Agency Steamship Agency Private Terminal Ship Management Services Private Terminal Private Terminal Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Public Port Railroad Line Stevedoring Operations Consulting - ISO Customs Broker Stevedoring Operations Steamship Line Law Firm Stevedoring Operations Stevedoring Operations Private Terminal Stevedoring Operations Consulting - Engineering Stevedoring Operations Steamship Agency Freight Forwarder Healthcare Services Tug Services Private Terminal Personnel Services Consulting - Engineering Private Terminal Consulting - Safety Steamship Agency Consulting - Engineering Banking Services Consulting - Engineering Private Terminal Industry Association Banking Services Well Services Steamship Agency Customs Broker Vessel Chandler Vessel Chandler Steamship Line

Legal Ease—Oil Spill Responder Immunity Issues Brian McEwing, Partner—Reeves McEwing LLP Everyone in the maritime industry wants to believe that oil spill responders remain ready, willing and able to respond to any and all oil spills. In fact, almost every marine interest that handles oil has at least one Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO) named in its response plan. Failure to respond to an oil spill can have very significant impacts on any port, and the lack of a response effort can lead to its closing and untold economic and environmental damage.

It was not very long ago that the ATHOS I spilled 265,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River. While the spill itself is something that most would soon forget, the responders who worked to mitigate the spill and protect valuable natural resources need to be remembered. More recently, the efforts to clean up the DEEPWATER HORIZON oil spill, which was much greater in geographic scope, are a testament to the ability, if not the complete readiness, of the oil spill response community.

But doubt now exists as to the willingness of oil spill responders in a post-DEEPWATER HORIZON world.

Following the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill, Congress provided immunity to oil spill responders under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) consistent with the “polluter pays” principle. The principle is a simple one – the Responsible Party should be liable for all damages flowing from its acts or omissions that result in the spilling of oil. Responder immunity under OPA 90 is not, however, absolute. It does not apply if a responder acts with gross negligence or willful misconduct, or in cases involving personal injury or wrongful death. These gaps in immunity are now in the forefront of concern for many OSROs and for good reason.

In its final report to the President, the National Commission on the DEEPWATER HORIZON and Offshore Drilling commended the efforts of responders, stating that, “There were remarkable instances of dedication and heroism by individuals involved in the rescue and cleanup. Much was done well – and thanks to a combination of good luck and hard work, the worst-case scenarios did not all come to pass.” There is one lurking question, unanswered by the Commission’s report, that is – Will the oil spill response community answer the call when the next spill occurs?

While one would believe that this question is easily answered, an unfortunate aftermath of the clean-up of the DEEPWATER HORIZON spill is that thousands of lawsuits were filed against the response companies who answered the call.

These lawsuits have been consolidated into what has become known as the Multi-District Litigation, or MDL. As a result

of these gaps in immunity, response companies now face millions of dollars in litigation fees to defend these lawsuits. There is a second, but no less important, reason that Congress granted immunity to oil spill responders – to ensure that there would be no delay in responding. The MDL lawsuits cast doubt on the willingness of oil spill response companies to respond to the next spill.

As a result of these issues, efforts are currently underway by industry to convince Congress to close the gaps in responder immunity. While some might argue against providing immunity for gross negligence or willful acts as being contrary to public policy, the reality of the MDL lawsuits is that upon discovering that responders were immune from claims based upon negligence, plaintiffs simply amended their complaints to allege gross negligence and willful acts (in addition to gap closing legislation, a minimum pleading standard may also be appropriate). Absent complete immunity for responder actions which are consistent with the national contingency plan, oil spill responders will still face the real possibility of spending millions of dollars to defend lawsuits that are more appropriately directed to the Responsible Party.

Recent decisions in the MDL have been favorable to the responders, most notably, the court‘s recognition of the principle of derivative immunity. The theory of derivative immunity is that so long as the responders were acting in accordance with the national contingency plan and the federal government was directing such action, the responders would enjoy the same immunity as the government. Nevertheless, those decisions have come with significant litigation cost to oil spill response companies, and they must continue to defend the claims as the question as to whether the government or BP was directing the cleanup efforts is yet unanswered.

Until such time as Congress acts to amend responder immunity, both maritime interests, and response companies should seek advice of counsel in reviewing their insurance policies and responder agreements and any associated agreements to ensure that they have appropriate coverage and indemnity and defense provisions.

Brian McEwing is a Licensed Deck Officer and Partner in the Firm of REEVES McEWING LLP with offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cape May, New Jersey. He may be reached at mcewing@lawofsea.com or 609-846-4717.

This article was provided by the Marine Exchange of the Delaware River and Bay. Check them out at www.maritimedelriv.com.

HarborLights Update

Managing Over 20,000 Vessel Movements Every Year

The HarborLights Vessel Traffic Management System is used by the largest Terminals, Agents and Service Providers operating in Houston to optimize their operations. From confirming the time that stevedores, inspectors and bunkers need to arrive at a vessel to ensuring that agents know when a terminal slot is clear so they can schedule an arrival, the HarborLights window into pilot dispatch allows your operation to minimize costs and keep everyone informed about vessel arrivals, shifts and sailings.

Not content to let the revolutionary software stagnate, the HarborLights team has been hard at work responding to requests for features and functionality. So what does the newly optimized system look like?

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All the Information You Need. The basics are still the same winning formula: for every vessel, HarborLights tells you the scheduled boarding time, the actual boarding time, vessel name, starting berth, berth moved to, tie-up side, vessel type, gross registered tonnage, sailing draft, vessel length, beam, IMO number, pilot-off time, tug arrangements, agent and Morgan’s Point passing time. Whenever something changes, you’ll know in seconds as HarborLights’ connection to the Pilot’s Dispatch center keeps you informed just like you got a personal update call.

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Automatic order change notifications. Using HarborLights as the base or an augmentation to your organization’s dispatch center? Now, the system will let you know within moments of a vessel’s being rescheduled: no need to try to remember when you’re meeting the ship, HarborLights will keep you up-to-date of all changes. Vessel changing berth? No problem, HarborLights keeps you up to speed.

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Order of Movement. It’s the middle of February and the fog has just cleared, ships are moving, but where is your ship in the queue? Don’t let cancellations get you down: HarborLights provides you with scheduled pilot-boarding time for each vessel, so you’ll know exactly when your ship is going to move and when she starts up the Channel.

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Direct Telephone Numbers and Agent Names. Port Bureau Member Steamship Agencies like Inchcape, Moran, Norton Lilly and Odfjell move hundreds of ships every year on the Houston Ship Channel—want to make sure you call the right agent? HarborLights displays the name and phone number of the agent responsible for each vessel so you know who to talk to.

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Expanded AIS Coverage. With AIS coverage showing every port in Texas from Corpus Christi to Lake Charles, HarborLights lets you find your ship before she arrives at the dock. The user-friendly AIS display also lets you key in on important locations and terminals, see local landmarks like roads so you can meet your ship when she ties up at a new facility.

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Tug Arrangements and Pilot Notes. With detailed notes on every movement and the tug matrix recommendations displayed for every vessel, you’ll know what to expect when you come alongside.

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Advanced Fleet Historical Tracking. With hundreds of millions of positional records, HarborLights can build you a detailed diagram of where your vessel has gone and map its journey on the channel, so even after the movement, you can tell where your ship was at any moment in time.

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Automated Waypoints System. Don’t spend your day watching a screen, and help your workers avoid sitting idly dockside—instead, let HarborLights send you an email when your vessel’s on her way. Build your fleet and with one click, set a recurring notification so that you’ll never miss your ship.

At the end of the day, it’s a simple equation: the Houston Airport System wouldn’t function if every passenger had to call the control tower to find out what gate they should go to—if you’re doing business along the channel, why are you trying to work from an outdated playbook? HarborLights is the flatscreen TV at the airport keeping everyone on the same page.

The Port Bureau is proud to work with the Houston Pilots by providing information to the community so that everyone can move more ships more efficiently and cost-effectively. If you’re not using HarborLights, contact the Port Bureau at 713-678-4300 for subscription information.

Port Watch

Tom Marian—Buffalo Marine Service

Black Friday and Cyber Mondy Records Mask Soft Numbers

The record number of shoppers that piled into the stores before the Thanksgiving plates were back in their cupboards followed by the e-shopping feeding frenzy through the holiday weekend could pave the way for a strong fourth quarter finish. Of course, that hinges on how bare the shelves become as the holiday season winds down and buyers attempt to gauge the consumer’s appetite to spend into the first quarter of 2012. When one looks at the Texas maritime picture for October there was certainly no rush of imports or surge of exports to gear up for such a consumption binge. That was rather clear when the total vessel arrival numbers for the state dropped by another 1% and ended up as the year’s second-worst month.

Three consecutive months of decreases was unusual since October is generally a solid month due to holiday orders and inventory stockpiling which tails off by early December. On a port-by-port basis, with the exceptions of Sabine which ended up with a 3% gain over September - and incidentally over 2010 year-to-date - and Galveston with a 6% increase for the month, all of the major ports were down. Most notably, Corpus Christi plummeted 15%. Yet, despite registering the fewest number of monthly vessel arrivals for the year, Corpus Christi still managed to remain 9% above last year’s arrivals. Freeport also had the distinction of seeing the lowest monthly number of vessel arrivals for the year with a 5% decrease from September and a 3.5% decline for the year. To the east, the Port of Galveston had the dubious honor of fewer total vessel arrivals year-to-date in 2011 as compared to 2010. Relatively speaking, Houston and Freeport did not fare too badly with a less than 1% drop and 1.5% decrease respectively. The good news is that both ports continue to outperform 2010 by 6% and nearly 8% respectively. The most likely explanation is the small gains in tank vessel arrivals which offset larger losses in other vessel categories.

Closer to home, the Port of Houston saw 4.3% more tank vessels in October than September but there was a negligible difference between the number of tank vessel arrivals in 2010 and 2011. Not surprisingly chemical tankers were down from September’s record high; however, in spite of a 12% monthly drop, October was that particular vessel type’s secondbest month for the year. On the other hand, bulk vessels saw their poorest month of the year with a 15.5% monthly decrease. General cargo vessels were down by 2.5% but steel continued to dominant the Port Authority’s revenue picture despite that modest decline. The Port Authority’s largest vessel category - container ships - were up by 3.5%.

In the private versus public dock realm, the public dock category experienced slightly greater decreases than the private docks. Of note, was the 10% increase in arrivals at the City Docks which are nestled at the end of the Houston Ship Channel.

For the year, these docks are up over 13% from 2010 with October experiencing its second-best month for 2011. On the private dock side of the ledger, several of the petroleum storage facilities experienced robust increases while a hand full of chemical terminals saw double digit declines. All in all, there were no clear trends in this area but there did appear to be some beefing up of inventories driven by expectations of higher demands. Last but not least, brownwater commerce through the Houston Ship Channel crept down by another 1%. Nevertheless, the year-todate total remains 2% above 2010’s numbers—Tom Marian, Buffalo Marine Service

Spotlight on April Bailey

Vice President, Commercial Banking—Amegy Bank

“Why banking? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like numbers, but it’s about more than that—it’s about customers. More than 50% of the time, I’m out of my office, meeting customers, learning about their business and how to deal with them. If you’re lending millions of dollars, you not only need to ensure that the company is well run, you need to know the people you’re lending to. It’s all about personal relationships” April Bailey. Vice President in Commercial Banking at Amegy Bank is focused on middle market banking for clients with revenues between $10 million to $1 billion in various industries in the Houston area.

Born and raised in the Houston region, April grew up in Pearland and graduated from Pearland High School. Always active, she was a gymnast when young but after years of training, decided to use her athleticism in the water. She earned a diving scholarship to the University of Houston where she became interested in finance and business administration.

After graduating with a BBA in Finance from the University of Houston, April worked Contact April at: for Chase Bank as a corporate trust administrator and for AIM Management as an internal April.Bailey@amegybank.com wholesaler in a marketing role before going to the University of St. Thomas for graduate (713) 232-2257 school. She earned her MBA in finance and soon afterwards, started working at Amegy where she found herself in the credit training program. With her experience and training, April is focused on commercial lending—here, she handles business ranging from marine financing to grocery stores, distributors and manufacturers.

After nearly a decade at Amegy, April deals with loans between $1 million and $30 million and a range of products from lines of credit, term loans, leases, to acquisition finance. April notes that one of the most important differences about her job is that with Amegy, the company policies are to build relationships. “A great example is our affinity banking program—when your company does business with us, all your employees can get discounts on products and services with Amegy. We know that this support really keeps our relationships with our clients strong.”

“My job is a great mix of finance and marketing and I get to learn a lot about the things we may take for granted in our day-to-day lives. A good example is fluorination treatment which is a chemical process that provides a coating to different products to give them longer shelf lives. I have to understand each business so that we can make a lending decision. I’m also very involved along the waterfront with a lot of marine financing—from harbor tugs to barges, pushboats and bunker vehicles—this industry is the engine of our community and I think the port is too often overlooked.”

April is an Executive Committee member of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has served on various committees for the Women’s Finance Exchange, Latin Women’s Initiative, Friends of Child Advocates, Greater Houston Port Bureau and is a current member of the Emerging Women Leaders group for the Greater Houston Partnership.

April is married and she and her husband Kevin have a four year old son Jack and six year old daughter Isabela.

When she finds down time, she is a volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and has dedicated time to the United Way evaluating various funding levels for United Way organizations. April enjoys outdoor sports such as running, scuba diving and snorkeling. April loves to travel and though she’s visited exotic locations like Bali and Machu Picchu, she is still searching for the most interesting place in the world.

Beginning with one Houston location and $50 million in assets 20 years ago, today Amegy Bank has more than $11 billion in assets with 2,000 employees across more than 80 banking centers in the greater Houston, Dallas and San Antonio metropolitan areas. We specialize in banking privately owned businesses of all sizes and public companies in all industries with additional expertise in real estate, energy, and correspondent banking.

Amegy offers consumers and private banking clients a wide range of depository, lending, mortgage, brokerage, trust, internet and investment management services. Through Amegy Investments, bankers work with clients who maintain over $12 billion in various investment instruments. Amegy Bank is large enough to provide market-leading products and services, yet small enough for clients and bankers to experience the intimacy that comes from a close banking relationship.

Business Development

The Port Bureau Helping to Business to Houston

The Port Bureau Building Business Connections Worldwide in 2011 Business is all about relationships. One of the Port Bureau’s most important tasks is to build and maintain business connections with local industry, regulatory bodies, and government agencies.

Regulatory Affairs With a special focus on regulatory matters, the Port Bureau has presented member issues, discussed regional priorities like dredging and security funding, and advised governmental and regulatory groups such as the:  United States Senate  United States House of Representatives  United States Coast Guard  General Accounting Office  US Customs and Border Protection  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  Texas State House of Representatives  Texas State Senate  Central Texas Coastal Area Committee  National Defense University  Houston Ship Channel Security District  HSCSD Advisory Group Community Outreach With our focus on education and outreach, the Port Bureau has given discussions, presentations, and led dialogue at:  The Norwegian/Korean Ports Conference  The Economic Alliance Houston Port Region Annual Banquet  The International Transportation Management Association  Harris County Trade and Transportation Conference

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National Joint Harbor Safety/Area Maritime Security Conference National Transportation Week All-Clubs Seminar National Defense University Industrial College of the Armed Forces Specialty Coffee Association of America Annual Meeting and Symposium Port of Houston Authority Small Business Forum Northwest Houston Chamber of Commerce North Corridor Coalition—Advocates for Regional Mobility Solutions Clear Lake Association of Senior Programs Friendswood Leadership Class

The Port Bureau’s outreach efforts have shown tangible results. With two visits to Washington D.C. to press Congress for dredging funds, we are seeing progress on the RAMP legislation and currently have 144 sponsors in the House of Representatives and 30 sponsors in the Senate.

We will continue to carry the flag for ensuring that the Harbor Maintenance Taxes paid by our port region community are spent on harbor maintenance instead of disappearing into the federal budget process. We’ve been active in the formation of a new regional Harbor Safety Committee and we will continue to keep our members informed of the issues that affect their bottom lines every day.

(top-center) Captain’s Cup winning team Jason Ellis, Tara Battle, and Tim Studdert, from Buffalo Marine Service (top-right) Houston Pilots team J.J. Plunkett, Ted Schendel, Clint Winegar, and Steve Conway (upper-right) Moran Shipping team Jessie Villarreal, Rob LeClair, Mike Rice, and Jim Black, (middle-right) HDR team Don Welch, Dave Weston, Bud Colwell and Blake Trahan (lower-right) PTRA team Jeff Norwood, Fred Lange, Darrel Himel and Marvin Wells (bottomright) Marine Compliance team Dave Henley, Bill Hennessey, Mike Drieu, and Robert Araemeaux (bottom-banner) Players enjoy a steak dinner after golfing at the Captain’s Cup (bottom-left) Captain Diehl outlines the course rules before starting the tournament (lower-left) Jamie Villarreal, Empire Truck Lines gets ready to tee off Hole 16 (middle-left) Steve Garifalos watches the ball fly after teeing off (upper-left) Members of the Accutrans and Aaron Oil teams talk before heading to the next hole (top-left) Players practice putting before beginning the tournament.

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