February 2012 Port Bureau News

Port Bureau News February 2012

www.txgulf.org

Line Handling Neither snow, rain, heat, nor gloom of night stop the Boatmen of Houston Mooring Company or Texas Mooring from securing the lines along the channel

The SS Angelo Petri 2,383,540 Gallons of Wine per Voyage—But Not Quite a Party Boat

Spotlight on Peter MacCallum Jr. Owner—Best Bet Line Handlers

Captain’s Corner

The Last Game of the Season

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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 *Charles H. Flournoy *Capt. John G. Peterlin III *Capt. Richard Russell *Steve Stewart *Captain Robert Thompson *Len Waterworth

So we didn’t make the Super Bowl this year, and another season of Texans football ends a few weeks too soon. That’s okay. I think that with a healthy 1st string QB, a young team and the best offensive line in football, the Texans will be a playoff staple for a while. I’m from upstate New York originally, so I actually had two chances to see “my team” go to the Super Bowl… but with the Bills falling out of the playoff race some time around week 8, and the Texans losing the turnover battle in Baltimore, I guess that’s the end of that. Next weekend, I’ll settle in with family and friends to watch the big game, but let’s be honest, when my team isn’t in the match and I’ve already seen both Brady and Manning throw a few touchdown passes in my day… I’ll be watching for the commercials.

I’ll bet a lot of you will be watching for the commercials—and if you’re not, your wives and kids will certainly be paying attention. WhatPhoto weCredit: really need is aHouston Super Bowl Captain Lou Vest, Pilots Assn. ad for the maritime industry—something clever and informative that is talked about long after the nachos and bean dip memories have faded. I’m thinking something memorable like what I saw last year when VW announced their new Passat. A pint-sized Darth Vader used the Force to start the Volkswagen in the driveway while his parents watched smiling from the kitchen.

*Nathan Wesely Jim Black Ken Burnett Celeste Harris Jason Hayley Kevin Hickey Guy W. Hitt Charlie Jenkins

Our commercial could have a group of politicians sitting at a big round table discussing ways to jump start the economy with a TV droning on behind them. Suddenly the TV switches to sleek, sexy ships moving in and out of our harbors carrying ⅓ of our global economy in them. All of this would be underscored by hip-hop/rap music making it cool and accessible to the larger audience, and we’d see everything from iPods to flat-screen TVs coming off of containers.

Shareen Larmond Kathy Murray Jerry Nagel Vinny Pilegge Nolan Richardson Lloyd Schwing Tim Studdert Lawrence Waldron

An ad like this can open minds and help people realize what tremendous work gets done on the waterfronts. By the end of the commercial, we’ll have politicians jumping up and shouting: “It’s our ports that matter in this global economy,” and then the screen fades to the baloney where the Old Spice Sailor holding a remote control smiles. Without the Texans (or Bills) in the game, a sexy ad letting people know the importance of the maritime industry on everything from jobs to food would make the Super Bowl worth watching.

Armando Waterland Don Welch *Denotes Executive Committee Members

To give you a more serious update, I want to let you know about our upcoming trip to Washington DC. On February 6-8, I will bring a pro-bowl team of industry executives and professionals who’ve volunteered to give up their valuable time to meet with legislators in Washington about the needs of our nation’s ports and harbors. We’re going

Our Industry Pro Bowl Squad

Capt. Bill Hennessey ExxonMobil

Kevin Hickey Houston Fuel Oil Terminal

Steve Huffman G&H Towing Co

Capt Robert Thompson Houston Pilots

Nathan Wesely WGMA

Melinda Whitney ILTA

Shareen Larmond WGMA

Kirsten Whitman Shell

Albert Noggle Odfjell

Not Pictured: Olga Rodriguez, PHA

An MSC Vessel Arrives from Deep Sea

to be rallying support for H.R. 104 and S. 412, legislation obligating Congress to use harbor maintenance taxes on harbor maintenance; kind of like what they do with the Highway Trust Fund and Air Trust Fund. We already have 167 Representatives and 31 Senators signed on to the legislation, but we’re not yet at critical mass to get the bills pushed to the floor for a vote.

This week we are working on our messaging and lining up appointments to make sure we meet other legislators who depend on the ports of Texas—even if they don’t know it. Below, you can see the Representatives we will be meeting with. With Texas ports bringing in 25% of our nation’s maritime tonnage, and our nation’s ports bringing in more than 95% of American commerce, we have a good case and will make sure our Representatives know the value of our industry.

When we committed four turnovers against the Ravens, we gave the game away, the Texans season came to an end and the city groaned. Last week, HMTF language was inserted into the hotly debated transportation bill, that’s just the beginning. We’re going to Congress to make sure that our elected Representatives don’t turn over the ball and miss this opportunity because the groan would surely be felt by our entire national economy.

US House of Representative Appointments Scheduled in Washington, D.C. Francisco Canseco R-TX 23rd (West Texas) House Financial Services Committee Michael Conaway R-TX 11th (Odessa) House Agriculture Committee Rick Crawford R-AR 1st (Jonesboro) House Transportation and Infrastructure Henry Cuellar D-TX 28th (San Antonio) House Agriculture Committee Bill Flores R-TX 17th (Waco) House Budget Committee Louis Ghomert R-TX 1st (Tyler) Member of the I-69 Alliance Kay Granger R-TX 12th (Ft. Worth) House Appropriations Committee Eddie Bernice Johnson D-TX 30th (Dallas) House Transportation and Infrastructure Sam Johnson R-TX 3rd (Dallas) House Ways and Means Committee Kenny Marchant R-TX 24th (Irving) House Ways and Means Committee Randy Neugebauer R-TX 19th (Lubbock) House Agriculture Committee Sylvestre Reyes D-TX 16th (El Paso) House Armed Services Committee John Sullivan R-OK 1st (Tulsa) House Energy and Commerce Committee Photo Credit: Captain Louis Vest, Houston Pilots Association

Line Handling Stevedores and Terminal Operators

Unless Noted—All Photos Courtesy of Captain Lou Vest, Houston Pilots Association

“Shoot me a note when the ship is tied up” - heard in operations and dispatch centers in over 180 terminals in the Houston area day after day, the simple missive tells hungry cargo owners that they are one step closer to beginning discharge operations. But between the channel and the pier, a group of men work diligently to ensure that each vessel is safely moored to the pier. Line handlers, or boatmen, fasten ships to solid ground, often working literally between the vessel and a concrete pier, trusting in their communications and professionalism to ensure that the ship is safely tied up and they’re not crushed between the two massive bodies.

Mark Polk Hauls a Tanker’s Line

Houston Pilot Lou Vest notes, “It sounds very simple except they're working with lines as big around as a leg, wires the size of your wrist and hooks as big as your head while walking around on a wet rocking boat without lifelines often in the dark cold and rain. All of which can combine to do serious injury to a person who has a moment of inattention. They're a great bunch of guys who are cheerful at all hours, uncomplaining in the worst weather, and absolutely an important part of the port organism.”

Mooring Companies in the Upper Houston Ship Channel Along the Upper Houston Ship Channel, two outfits—Houston Mooring Company, and Texas Mooring—complete a combined 40,000+ operations every year—tying and releasing the lines for every arrival, sailing, and shift from Bayport to the Turning Basin. With such volumes, Houston is a competitive marketplace, attracting experienced operators and cultivating a professional work environment. With rates ranging between about $500/$1500 per operation (depending on the size of the vessel and location along the channel), Houston is a cost effective port, with line handling operations only half the cost of comparable jobs on the West Coast. Houston Mooring Company Boatman Steve Bennett notes, “Ship’s captains have told us that the boatmen here in Houston are the most efficient that they’ve seen in any port. We handle such a large volume in Houston, there’s a learning curve

there. Also the way we handle the lines is different than in most other ports. We use a lot of mooring hooks here instead of hard points up on the top of the dock—when a ship gets ready to leave we just run the line through the hook and invert the hook so the lines just fall out they can reel ‘em in and go on their way.”

The two mooring companies in Houston are dedicated to ensuring a safe stable working environment for their line handlers, and efficient operations for their customers. Alex Parkman, of Texas Mooring Inc, describes their Houston operation, “Our boats are sparkling clean—white engines so that we’ll know instantly if anything is on them that shouldn’t be, and two mechanics who check each boat three times a week to make sure the engines, fuel lights, are in good operating condition.” Texas Mooring, Inc. founded in 1985, operates 15 line handling boats and over 70 boatmen. Describing a mooring operation, the focus is on maintaining safety through effective communication. “Our boatmen are trained to maintain eye and radio contact with the ship, tugs, and pilots so that there’re no surprises. When you’re under the bridge to bring a springline in, you have to make sure you’re cognizant of everything around you—no tunnel vision. Tug wash can get very dangerous, especially around some of the more active terminals near the monument where tugs, barges and other deep draft vessels are seemingly always darting in and around you while you’re trying to lash her up.”

Discussing the role of communication and customer service, Alex describes their profession as one of constant learning.

“We have a meeting of all the boatmen once a month where we get together to share best-practices. And we are always looking for the best technology available to make the job safer and more efficient. The HarborLights program is one that we use that’s been instrumental in simplifying our dispatch operations, and we also provide special services for agents and other operators that have a vested interest in when the ship ties up.”

Houston Mooring President David Halbert also notes that technology has been a game-changer in regards to safety and operational efficiency in the line handling environment. In operation since the 1920’s, Houston Mooring operates twelve line handling boats and has 75 operators with up to 55 years of experience along the Houston Ship Channel. For this article, Houston Mooring gathered five line-handlers with over 175 years of combined experience to talk about how the profession has changed over the past fifty years as the Port of Houston has grown into a world-class facility.

Pitch and Catch As each ship arriving to the City Docks in Houston slowly winds her way up the channel, pilots guide her to a berth, tugs begin to nudge her into position, and onshore, line handlers get ready to catch the heaving lines being thrown or launched off a ship.

“You know how on the channel side of a ship you can usually see a tug pushing her in? Yeah. We’re on the other side.” describes Steve, whose 34 years working for Houston Mooring Company doesn’t even come close to making him the senior man in the room.

Since mooring lines are often too heavy and awkward to be thrown easily, heaving lines—light, but with a heavy knot or other weight near the end—often begin the mooring process. Once linemen begin to pull, the heaving lines give way BM2 Stefanie Farmer Throws a Heaving to heavier gauge material that will secure the ship to shore or to a mooring station Line from the Fantail of the USS Denver alongside a berth. As seen in the diagram below, spring lines are led diagonally from Photo Credit: US Navy the bow and stern, while breast lines run perpendicular to the ship before being tied to a bollard or other anchor and made fast to keep the vessel from moving fore and aft or drifting away while alongside the pier.

Of course, in practice, the operation requires a great deal of skill and coordination, and a degree of intrepidity to carry out safely. “If you’re on the dock—like right up here at the Turning Basin, basically, the crew’ll throw you a heaving line and two guys on the end are pulling it. We’ll Basic Mooring Diagram drive a truck to where the bit is, hook the lines in, and use your truck as a winch. You’ve got to be really careful though—over the years, we’ve had some vehicles pulled into the water, not because of something that happens shoreside, but because of the setup onboard the ship—there, the lines are coming off of drums—just like a fishing reel, when you cast it out, sometimes 1. Bow Line 2. Forward Breast Line 3. After Bow Spring Line it’ll backlash—well these drums’ll do the 4. Forward Quarter Spring Line

5. Quarter Breast Line

6. Stern Line

same thing.”

Houston Mooring Boatmen Haul in Lines

New boats and new technology has made the boatmen’s job safer and more efficient than ever before.

Boatman Rick Kerser described some of the conditions from decades past: “Just before I was down here we were running boats with gasoline engines.

You’d have to use the throttle on one hand, gear shift on the other, and a THandle on the bulkhead while a shifter came out of the floor, you’d have to idle it down before letting it mesh.

Now, the velvet drive transmission allows you to go from ahead to astern without meshing—you still try to idle it down a bit so you don’t wipe out the transmission, but boats are much more maneuverable than back then.”

Sonny Becker Tying Up a Ship

Chiming in with his own recollections, lineman Bobby Kersey described some of the challenges he’s worked with since he started tying up boats in 1957. “The original boats we had were wooden—cypress hulls, and they’d leak like crazy.

We had to put a lot of maintenance into them just to keep ‘em running. The gasoline engines, you’d have to air them out, they’d always run hot without modern coolant systems, so you’d carry a spare ignition capacitor. When you were driving the channel, they’d suck up polyethylene bullets into the heat exchanger, shutting off the water, and after a long run, you couldn’t pull it back to neutral and back it up because it’d die on you. You had to come up much more tenderly otherwise you’d smack into the side of the ship or the pier.”

“Now”, Alex Enloe, a “young” boatman with only 14 years of experience interjects, “Now, the diesel engines, bigger wheels, velvet drive transmissions, we’re equipped and safer with better boats and gear like oars and life jackets. At safety meetings once a month, the Coast Guard comes, the companies come, pilots come—we work out what’s going on around the channel, see what to look for.”

“He’s right,” agrees Don Gibson, “Before, we didn’t have Texas Mooring Boatman Mark Henry Moves to His Next Job any type of radio, if you broke down in the middle of the channel, you’d have to pull up a floorboard and try to get out of the middle of the channel. Most of the lights didn’t work… it was more dangerous” While new technology can create safer conditions, the growth of new practices and materials can be a double-edged sword: “One of the things that we have to keep track of is that now, Houston Mooring Boatmen Jessie Scott and Bobby Kersey ships are going to supersynthetic lines—Kevlar and other materials that’re stronger and lighter than steel, but can be much more difficult to handle. By being so light, and about 90% buoyant, these new lines will drop a few feet under the water and just stay there. Because the material is so dense, when you stop the boat, or if you’ve two other lines on the boat and one comes tight, the line still in the water keeps trying to feed itself into your propeller. Now, on the other hand, when the line snaps, there’s no recoil to it. If one of the steel wire breaks— you can hear it starting—and that can cut you in two.”

As the boatmen recollect the close calls that so many have had over the years, they don’t shy from describing some of the catastrophes that’ve occurred on the ship channel. “When Goodpasture Grain

terminal exploded and burned, we had ships on the terminal at the time, and they had to come out of there. Boatmen had to go in let that ship go, and have the tugs pull it off. “ Reeling off specific incidents— the Amaco Virginia at Hess burning for days after being ignited by an oil burning lamp on a barge, a two week closure in 1978 when the Chevron Hawaii blew in half at Shell when lightning struck it immediately after mooring, and spills of various types.

In the ‘70’s, a gasoline spill at GaTex Pasadena occurred when Houston Mooring Boatmen an inbound ship came by and stretched out the loading hoses, broke the hose and aviation fuel started pouring into the channel. Steve recalls, “The guys that worked at the terminal ran—smart guys—and the fuel was coming out into the channel. It was such a massive spill it came across the channel to our boat dock at Warren. The water was red with the dye in the fuel, and fumes were awful. They wanted us to go over there and rerun some lines, but all we had were gasoline boats at the time. We had a boatman—Eddie Thompson—only guy down here that would do it, and Eddie said “I’ll go over there”… and he did. He fired the boat up, puttered amid all the fumes and fuel, and tied up the ship. I think if something had gone wrong that night, it would’ve blown up the world.”

Bobby nods at the recollection “I remember going to a dock in the 70’s—used to be Charter Oil, was Traywick dock at the time—went between the ship and the dock and there was gasoline in the water—must’ve been 6 inches deep. Nobody knew it was there ‘til I found it.”

Of course, these incidents involved larger response units and shoreside investigations as to their causes and how to ensure they wouldn’t happen again. But the boatmen have to keep their eyes out for other less-catastrophic hazards as well. Steve laughs “One time, I came around the stern of a ship with Captain Eddie to go after lines and got a stream of something coming into the boat—we looked up to Tanker Crewman Work the Winch as a Mooring Line is Hauled Tight see a crewman relieving himself off the side of the ship… that’ll teach you to be careful.” As the gathered linemen laugh at the memory, one is quick to point out “We had the Elissa come into the new Cruise Terminal dock a few years ago—Steve was working the boat and the girl running the galley was making cookies. When she was cleaning the dishes, she tossed a pail of dirty dishwater over the side, right on top of him… but she brought him cookies afterwards. So it all works out in the wash.”

“One thing I will say—so many of these stories happened before there were containers or contraptions aboard the ships to catch spoils. Used to be you could almost walk across the channel the water quality was so bad.” As the assembled boatmen nod, Rick continues, “The water quality has come up tremendously. Sometimes it doesn’t look it with people throwing in Styrofoam and plastic, but the water itself is clean—I mean, they’re catching redfish and shrimp up here at some of the City Docks. We see a lot of osprey and eagle a lot—never used to see that, and we even see dolphin come up some of the channel up towards Vopak, Houston Fuel Oil and ITC. And shrimp.”

Don quickly interjects, “Some guy wrote an article after canoeing down the channel saying it looks nasty—all he’s looking at is the plastic that people are tossing into the channel. Now I’m not defending that—it’s disgraceful, but the water used to be virtually black from the 610 bridge all the way up. There were two paper mill discharges—one at the Washburn Tunnel, and one down below the Bulk Dock— a paper mill up off of I-10 had a discharge down here and that wasn’t good for the water.”

Dolphins Play As a Tanker Enters the Ship Channel

Bobby and Jessie Watch as Slack Lines are Tightened to a Tanker

Port Historians With decades of experience securing every type of ship imaginable, the line handlers have knowledge and stories of Houston’s maritime history going back to their own time using cypress boats with gasoline motors. Their sea stories run the gamut from old ships to on-the-job hazards to tales of on-the-job creative thinking that may seem dated in today’s security-conscious, safety-conscious environment.

Twenty, thirty years ago, a 500 foot ship was pretty huge, but around that same time I remember a massive ship that came in— she was just short of 1100 ft long, probably had a 285 ft beam, we used a fourwheel-drive truck to tie her up. At that point, we were just laying her up for a time, but she was so big that she couldn’t get close to the dock, so they just drove her into place, and basically sunk her—ballasted her down to the bottom. We got in the mooring boat, brought lines to the bank, then a couple of guys took the mooring lines up the hill in the truck tying the lines to pylons and trees. That was probably a six or eight hour job just for that one ship, dragging lines across the pasture.

There used to be an American wine ship that came into Old Manchester—the Angelo Petri. She sailed here out of Fort Stockton, California, and I remember that one year, they blended the wine by accident—they had several kinds of wine on the ship, and got the valves mixed up somewhere, blending a whole shipload of wine. No one knew what to do with it—it was pretty good, just different, so they sold it as a “special blend” around here for a year or so. They stored it in stainless steel Want to Know More about the Angelo Petri? tanks near Old Manchester, and if the tank overfilled, they’d take a gallon Turn the Page bucket, empty it out, throw it into the sea.

The boatmen describe working with crews—seeing liner services come in and out, they’ve witnessed a changing of the guard when it comes to the seamen tying up in Houston. “You know when I started,” mentions Don, “American ships had an American crew, Greek ship had a Greek crew. We used to see a lot of Norwegian, Swedes, and Japanese, and they were very efficient, very professional crews… now, you may still have Norwegian officers, but with the economics of crewing, you’ll have Romanian, Croatian, Filipino workers” Talking about the pragmatic effects of crew changes, a boatmen mentions “Well, the difference is that you don’t see the same sailors quite as often, so crews don’t necessarily watch out for you as much. You have Bobby Guides His Boat To the Next Job to be very careful when they’re lowering combination lines down to the boat because if the crew isn’t paying careful attention, you’ll have the line come down on your head. In that same vein, when they throw the heaving line over, you have to make sure your windshield isn’t in the way.”

The advent of modern communications has had an effect on more than dispatch and direct accountability. “You used to be able to see the entire crew of a ship as she tied up lining up to see the pay phone.

Steve, Seen From Above Now, if they can get off, everyone’s got access to a cell phone, or the Seaman’s Center takes care of a lot of things. It’s better in some ways, though it’s obviously a lot harder on the crew just to be able to get off the ship when it comes to US Immigration.”

The boatmen share observations from their waterfront history: “It’s not just seamanship that’s developed, but shoreside too” mentions Bobby, “You don’t have the bars with women who’d line up coming to the boat as soon as it tied up, and crime’s gone down as that’s changed. We lost a boatman in 1990—Earl Brock—who was shot as he was taking his boat under Broadway. Earl never knew what hit him—calling dispatch, he thought that he’d hit something in the water and hurt himself when he was knocked down.” Brock’s murder has never been solved and stands as a sober reminder that not all the dangers faced by the boatmen come from the sea.

Into the Future

Rick Kersey, Up Against a Well Used Ship’s Hull

With changes on the dock and off, David Halbert aggregates the discussion by talking about how each of the boatmen that operate on the Houston Ship Channel are working to become more skilled at their craft. “We’re all constantly striving to get better.” says David, “We used to determine when a ship was going to dock by calling the pilots and getting a passing time from the Marine Exchange down at Morgan’s Point. Now, these

guys are able to watch the ships on their phones, HarborLights has an AIS picture and dispatch runs off of real-time information.” Steve echos his thoughts about enhanced communication. “Another thing that we’ve seen is that the community who we work with value what we do. When building new facilities now, terminals are coming to the boatmen—and all of the service providers—and asking for our input when they’re designing a dock. Now, they’ll use a mooring hook instead of having a fixed bollard which you’d have to climb up to a ladder to get to, and that makes things safer and helps us do our job faster.”

Texas Mooring Boatman Mark Henry Poses

Line Handling is a very physical job where new-hires need to be trained extensively before they have the eye to see everything that’s going on around them. With experience comes technical competency, a sense of responsibility, and the humble pride of a skilled professional who knows what’s going on 360 degrees around them. Before the boatmen adjourn, David Halbert sums up their job: “At the end of the day, this is still a longshore job where people work for a living—a manual job that takes a lot of strength and endurance. We’ve done everything we can to make things easy, but constantly exposed to the heat, snow, mosquitos, winds, rains, I think this is one of the hardest jobs out there.” -P. Seeba, GHPB

Houston Mooring Boatman Mike Grable Letting Lines Loose in the Early Morning

The SS Angelo Petri 2,383,540 Gallons of Wine per Voyage—But Not Exactly a Party Boat Starting in 1957, the SS Angelo Petri, a US flagged tanker sailing for United Vintners converted to a wine ship began sailing from Stockton, CA through the Panama Canal to Houston, sailing on to Newark before ending her periodic trip in California. Built to circumvent high cost of rail transit for wine between California to Chicago, the 520 ft, 21,800 ton tanker began life as the SS Sackett’s Harbor, a WWII T2 Merchant Marine vessel built in August, 1941.

The Sackett’s Harbor survived the war, though underwent major repairs for a cracked hull (from deckline to deckline) after evading a submarine along the east coast of Australia. On a voyage between Japan and Panama in March 1946, she broke in half along the same line, and the crew drifted aboard the stern section for five days before the frigate USS Orlando and a British cargo ship rescued the crew. Deciding that her fore was a hazard to navigation, a Navy rescue ship turned her guns, sinking the foundering vessel half before towing the stern—with crew still aboard—to Anchorage, Alaska. Crewman James Calton Jr: “Well, the sea was very choppy and the Sacketts Harbor began to take on water. The Captain of the Sacketts Harbor requested the towing ship to either slow down or release them but the Captain of the towing ship refused. The Captain of the Sacketts Harbor then ordered his crew to cut the tow line. The Sacketts Harbor fired up it's engine, put it in reverse, and sailed into Adak under it's own power.”

Soon, the Sackett’s Harbor was towed to Anchorage where her advanced diesel/ electric power plant was used as the city’s first power facility before the wreck was sold to the Petri family for $300,000.

After towing the half-ship south, repairs and reconstruction of the began on June 4, 1957 as she was rechristened the SS Angelo Petri at Bethlehem Shipyard in San Francisco, CA. At the time, the vessel was the largest privately owned ship built on the Pacific Coast in nearly 30 years. Her renovations cost upwards of $7,000,000—$2,500,000 of that for the chromiumnickel stainless steel tanks alone. Specially engineered, the freestanding tanks used a cofferdam on the outside for strength, and were cleaned using superheated fresh water fed through hoses with rotating nozzles. Two months later, the Angelo Petri

“[At the time, the trucking laws were against us because of state weight limitations for trucks. The railroads were also really making life miserable for all of us—every time they had a rate increase, the wine industry would get the full increase. … Well, this is where we got the bright idea of building the wine tanker. I knew most of the railroad people, and we threatened them that unless they gave us some rate reductions, we would build the ship, but they never thought we would or could do it. … but we did it.”

-Mr. Louis Petri sailed for Houston carrying 2,383,540 gallons of wine and grape mash and within months, undercut rail pricing from California to Chicago by nearly 10 cents/gallon—a substantial savings.

Making a round-trip seven times a year, her first stop was Houston. Here, wine was transferred to storage tanks before being loaded on to glass-lined barges which brought the liquid bulk cargo up the American river system to a bottling plant in Chicago where the wine was prepared for sale. After a year of operation, the Angelo Petri gained another customer, bringing Corn Products corn syrup from Houston to Newark.

Louis Petri noted that “We never dared put chemicals in the tanks that carry wine—finally, we made a deal to carry soda ash to California [for the backhaul].

Now, soda ash was what we used to clean the tanks before we refilled them.”

Sailing for nearly 20 years for United Vintners, the Angelo Petri’s most harrowing experience occurred when she almost sank in 1960 when a 35-foot wave sent seawater into a vent, shorting out the vessel’s electrical system and leaving her adrift as she passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. Losing her rudder and propeller on a sandbar, the Coast Guard cutter Taney and retrofitted minelayer Magnolia came to the rescue as fourteen crewmen were airlifted off by helicopter and deposited in the parking lot of San Francisco’s Fleischhacker Zoo. The vessel was quickly repaired and continued her regular runs until 1975.

The Angelo Petri was eventually sold to Antilles Navica who sailed her under the name Sea Chemist for a number of years before she was lost to history.—P. Seeba, GHPB

Request for Information & Harbor Safety Committee Meeting Notice On Friday, 13 January 2012, the scoping committee for developing a regional Harbor Safety Committee met at the Houston Pilots Office in Deer Park. Designed to provide a public forum which can address local maritime and navigational safety issues involving the ports of Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Freeport, this alternative to the Federal Advisory Committee (HOGANSAC) seeks to further relationships and activites in the community without federal process restrictions, oversight and intervention.

On 17 February 2012, the Harbor Safety Committee will meet for final approval of the HSC charter, introductions of committee positions, selection of officers, and the opening of new business. With a focus on the way ahead and creations of subcommittees to address maritime safety matters, the Harbor Safety Committee is built on a solid foundation of community support and participation.

If you would like to be considered for a position on the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee, please contact Commander Michael Zidik at michael.s.zidik@uscg.mil or LT Margaret Brown at margaret.a.brown@uscg.mil for an application. Completed applications and a one-page resume must be submitted no later than close-of-business 13 February 2012 for consideration. Initial selections will be made by the US Coast Guard, and follow on selections will be elected as per the guidelines of the HSC Charter.

HSC Open Positions Barge/Tow Boat Operators Barge/Tow Boat Organizations Bulk Liquid Storage Chemical Tank Vessel Owner/Operators Chemical Terminals Commercial Fishing Vessels Container Ship Owner/Operators Harbor Tug Company Line Handlers Marine Exchange Marine Salvage/Dredging Operators Maritime Education Representative Maritime Trade Organization Non-Liquid/Dry Cargo Vessel Operators Non-Liquid Terminal Operators Passenger Vessel Owner/Operators Recreational Boaters Refineries Shipping Agents Shipyard/Vessel Repair Facilities Stevedore/Labor Tank Vessel Owner Operators

(top-left:) Jim Brown, Dowley Security Systems, and CAPT James Whitehead, USCG (topmiddle:) Ignacio Chivilo, Sorin Moga, and Luis Pineda, Tenaris (top-right:) Capt.

Andreas Nicolaou, and Spilios Adamapoulos, Seaways Maritime Service (upper-left:) Reid Eastman, Eastman Logistics, talks to a potential customer (upper-middle:) CDR Kevin Falk, JJ Plunkett, Houston Pilots, and Henry de la Garza, dlG Public Relations (upperright:) Brandon Galloway, Aaron Oil Company, and Chuck King, Buffalo Marine Service (mid-left:) Charlie Jenkins, PHA, Kevin Hickey, Houston Fuel Oil Terminal Co. (mid-middle:) Craig MacFarlane, Adobe Equipment, and Reid Eastman. (mid-right:) Capt. Robert Thompson, Houston Pilots and Art Flanagan, Hub International Rigg (midlower-left:) Mike Cargol, Global Diving and Salvage and Bill Young, Malin (midlower-middle:) Elizabeth Holland, Lensec, and Ed Foster, the Mundy Companies (midlower-right:) Cynthia Powers, Diamond Offshore Drilling, and Dave Cooley, GHPB (lower-right) Jorgen Jorgenson, Biehl & Co, Jürgen Schröder, Schroder Marine (lowermiddle:) Peter McCallum, Best Bet Marine Services, George Pontikos, Odfjell Terminal Company (lower-right:) CDR Jim Robertson, USCG, Michael Morris, and JJ Plunkett, Houston Pilots (bottomleft:) The Commerce Club meets at Brady’s Landing. (bottom-right:) CAPT James Whitehead, USCG addresses the Commerce Club

PHA names COL Len Waterworth, USA (Ret.) interim CEO

DHS NOTICE

A graduate of the Army War College, George Washington University, and New Mexico State University, Len retired in 2004 after 26 years in the United States Army as a Colonel and Commander of the Galveston District for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Len previously served as the President/CEO of GHPB member Dannenbaum Engineering. In a statement introducing him to the community, PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds noted that “ We are fortunate to have Len to guide the Port Authority as we continue to build on our successes and carry out our mission of economic development and job creation.” “[The Port] is really the heart of economic prosperity for this entire community” said Waterworth, in his opening remarks, “It is a critically important economic engine for our region and nation.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Area Port of Houston/ Galveston advises the importing community of the selection of Gulf Winds International, Inc., as operator of a Centralized Exanimation Station (CES) for the Port of Houston.

Effective January 04, 2012, Gulf Winds International located at 1000 East Barbour’s Cut Blvd, La Porte, Texas 77571 will commence full CES operations. The CES will be open Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm.

Port of Galveston CEO Leaving for Port Everglades, FL Galveston CEO/Port Director Steve Cernak was confirmed as the Port Director for Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on January 31st. He will take the reins of the second largest cruise port in the United States responsible for over $14 billion of annual business activity and 143,000 Floridian jobs.

Deputy Port Director Michael Mierzwa was appointed Acting Port Director while the Port of Galveston begins a nationwide search for a long-term replacement.

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Spotlight on Peter MacCallum

Owner—Best Bet Line Handlers

In the late 50’s, Pete S. MacCallum Jr. traveled with his father, a physician and rancher in Webb County, TX, on an annual trip down to Port Aransas. Pete’s father spent time along the water every year, and instead of going fishing, Pete wandered down to the shipyards to see mechanical wonders and heavy machinery. With the help of Ed Nelson, superintendent at White Marlin Shipyard, Pete hung around and watched ships made ready for sea “I was kind of a pest, but one day Ed asked me “Hey, can you sand the bottom of this boat?”, and I told him sure, and from then on, I spent the summers working in the shipyard. What a great experience.” Soon, Pete started work as an underwater welder for the Arco Company, and his passion for diving led to spending most of his waking hours on/under the water.

Fittingly, Pete’s life began on the water: his mother went into labor on a speedboat.

Pete grew up just outside of Laredo, graduating from Laredo-Martin high school before attending Trinity University in San Antonio. “It was a bit different back then. Especially on the upper campus—you had formal sit-down dinners, you certainly wouldn’t be wandering around in blue jeans…” Upon meeting him, one realizes that Pete doesn’t just give lip service to being a gentleman. “I tell my crews that they will be courteous and treat our customers with respect at all times. If one of my line handlers starts cursing at a sailor, it’s grounds for immediate termination. I want our employees, our customers, our partners in the community treated like family, and it starts with setting a good example—you know that when you see our red trucks pull up, or a line handling boat with a crew in red coveralls, you’ll receive quality service.”

After college, Pete and his friend Andy Mora ran a Tug & Barge from Bay City down to Port Mansfield, and he was on the water to stay. He began his business career with a two man diving team in 1963, and through the next five decades, expanded his business ventures into 5 companies with over 150 full time employees and 50 part time workers. “We put a lot of effort into retaining our great people with programs like profit sharing, 401k’s, and others; if you work for me, I want you to be able to retire a millionaire. When I look at my employees—well, there may be some who’re as good, but I guarantee you, there’re none better.”

Pete’s first company, International Divers, Inc. worked out of one warehouse and operated two crew trucks with diving done dockside or from small aluminum boats. Most of their tools had to be custom designed, and most would be considered obsolete by today’s standards. On a diving job, the man in the water and his tender would communicate by quick tugs on the rope that was tethered to the diver. This elementary Morse code was their only way of communicating. “That’s definitely something that’s changed. Good technology has come up a lot.

On the other hand, I will say, that the old days were a lot of fun.

Without tools like AIS or GPS, we’d be navigating with charts and a stopwatch—something that’s hard for some of these younger gentlemen to fathom sometimes.”

While operating in the Port of Corpus Christi, Pete became aware of the need for additional line handling services.

He began his quest to learn everything he could about line handling by making a trip to Houston to talk to Charlie Brock with Houston Mooring Company. He soon realized the need for better boats than were currently available. He spent the next three years working with a naval architect to design and engineer a 26’, 350 HP aluminum line handling boat yielding speeds up to 35 knots. A delicate and elegant balance of power, speed, and maneuverability was required. “Coming alongside ship was sometimes a pretty dicey affair in those days, so we used what’s called an Omega drive—it allows you to stay in clutch, but adjust the revolutions on your shaft giving you much smoother han-

dling so the boat’s easier to control.” Best Bet now operates up to eleven line-handling boats in the Port of Corpus Christi.

In June of 2010, Pete expanded line handling operations to the Port of Texas City and operating as Best Bet Marine Services. “I couldn’t thank Theresa (Harper), Jason (Hayley), and Bill (Mathis) at the Port of Texas City enough. They have a great operation running down here, and have been instrumental not only in our operations, but in helping us get out into the community.”

In both the Port of Texas City and the Port of Corpus Christ, the operations not only include line handling, but also the related services of stores deliveries and launch services.

Other companies owned by Pete include Associated Marine Services, Inc., Port Arthur, Texas. The Chief Operating Officer is Pete’s son, Peter S. MacCallum III. Under his direction, the company provides a host of services including line handling, stores deliveries, launch services, and is also actively involved in the production of line boats developed by Pete, push tugs, delivery barges, floating barges, jet boats and other related marine equipment. The company also operates as Ace Marine and provides full services in the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Pete has started other businesses though the years. MacCallum Marine is an offshore transportation company that delivers workers and inspectors to offshore ships and oilrigs handling crew changes as well as fuel, water and cargo delivery to ships and oilrigs. Another, Chubasco Marine Services is a shoreside outfit repairing tugboats, barges, and ships.

All of the companies are involved in and sponsor regional charitable events and organizations such as the 4H Club, FFA, Junior Livestock shows, Little League, and other worthwhile community oriented endeavors.

The MacCallum Ranch remains a working ranch where Pete and his sons, Peter III and Luke actively participate in the operations and gather to relax. Pete’s favorite hobbies are hunting, especially pheasant and dove, and flying.

Best Bet Line Handlers “run the line in maritime” for the Ports of Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Texas City, Lake Charles, and Sabine. Providing line handling services with their fleet of state-of-theart vessels, they are also able to coordinate deliveries, inspections, cargo movement, repairs, and handle heavy-lift salvage and diving operations.

Port Watch Tom Marian—Buffalo Marine Service

Turn of the Century Retrospection

2011 sank below the horizon in a much more languid fashion than its entry as the final quarter of the year saw mostly soft gains in the larger ports. From a macro-perspective, Texas ports rebounded 5.5% in December after experiencing the weakest November in terms of vessel arrivals since 2004. More importantly, the annual total combined vessel arrivals for 2011 were the highest on record—eclipsing even the totals from 2008. In fact, the Port of Houston broke the 8000 vessel-arrival mark – a number that was first seen in 2008. Perhaps what was more impressive with Houston’s 2011 total of 8073 vessel arrivals (compared with the previous high of 8058 in ’08), is the fact that in terms of vessel arrivals, the final quarter of 2011 was by far the worst for the entire year. How much worse, you ask? It was a full 8.5% lower than 2010 and more than 7% below the previous quarter. Yet, before one delves into the various monthly statistics that comprised the final act of the year, it may be instructive to take a quick glance at the late nineties and ensuing zeros.

While many of us would like to forget the Y2K mania that began to rear its head in 1998, that year ended on a very robust note as the Port of Houston recorded over 7000 vessel arrivals for the first time. Interestingly enough, it would take another seven years (i.e., 2005) until it re-crossed this threshold. Indeed, Houston would creep downward for the first three years of the 21st century despite impressive gains with container ships. Meanwhile, to the south, the Port of Texas City saw some of its best years from 1998 through 2001 and would not see comparable vessel arrivals until 2010. Galveston also experienced a trade boon during the final two years of the last millennium when it nearly broke through the 600 level (i.e., 578 in 1998 and 591 in 1999). 1991’s high would not be equaled until 2007 and – for the most part – Galveston consistently logged mid to upper 500s in terms of ship arrivals. That is, until 2010 when it surged through the 600, 700, 800-barrier with 850 vessel arrivals.

Specific categories are more difficult to trend for the same timeframe due to inconsistent data on vessel types. Of note, is the fact that the addition of Harborlights to the panoply of AIS-tracking tools has certainly finetuned the vessel arrival statistics for the region. This vessel-tracking tool is even more valuable when one factors in the direct interface with the Pilot dispatch information – a functionality that no other AIS tool possesses. That being said, there are some interesting observations.

Specifically, reefer vessel arrivals have literally fallen off the map in the last three years from a consistent mid-forty range to single digits. This is most likely attributable to the greater versatility of containers which have capitalized on the opening of Houston’s Bayport container terminal. This second container terminal is directly responsible for the significant increase in container ship arrivals which has exceeded 1000 ships for the past two years.

Not surprisingly, car carriers track the regional economy and it is not that unusual for the number of arrivals to increase or de-

crease by one-third in any given year; until the last two years when this category reached triple digits for the first time. One likely explanation is the convergence of the cash-for-clunkers program with the State’s rapid population growth through the Great Recession. Finally, energy products have trended positively over the last dozen years with a significant growth pattern from 2003 through 2008. Not unexpectedly, this category’s peak of 2008 was followed by the plunge of 2009 due to the national economy’s abrupt downward trajectory.

The positives of all of this retrospection is that 2011 is replete with data that indicates the bulk of the Texas ports continue to gain traction and post respectable gains. The outlier being Freeport which was off by 9% against 2010’s arrivals in spite of a 24% monthly gain. Worse yet, the total vessel arrivals for Freeport in 2011 was its lowest in ten years. However, from Sabine to Corpus Christi trade is solid and even slight gains in the number of tows plying the Houston Ship Channel (i.e., 5.5% for the month and 1% for the year) point towards a year that will be incrementally better than the one left behind. That does stand to reason since there was so much positive data on the national consumption front without corresponding gains in the maritime commerce arena. Perhaps that explains the monthly gains in chemical carriers (16%); tank vessels (4%); Ro/ Ro (seven-fold increase – from 1 to 7); LPG (20%); and bulk carriers (6.5%). Gains in these categories more than offset the monthly losses in general cargo arrivals (11.5%) and car carriers (36%) along with no gains for container ships in the last month of the year.

Hopefully, 2012 will not fade in the same fashion as 2011did during its second half when vessel arrivals were more than 3% lower than the first six month of the year.

After all, the acres of store shelves that were emptied at the end of the year need to be replaced with something! - Tom Marian, Buffalo Marine Service

Upcoming Events: 9 February

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