February 2012 Port Bureau News

Port Bureau News

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

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

February 2012 www.txgulf.org

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

Captain’s Corner 00

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

*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 Mem-bers

Photo Credit: Captain Lou Vest, Houston Pilots Assn.

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 sta-

ple 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 Man-

ning 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. What we really need is a Super Bowl 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 par-

ents watched smiling

from the kitchen.

Our commer-

cial 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 con-

tainers.

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 mar-

itime industry on everything from jobs to food would make the Super Bowl worth watch-

ing.

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 execu-

tives 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

The Last Game of the Season

to be rallying support for H.R.

104 and S. 412, legislation obli-

gating 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 Representa-

tives 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.

Our Industry Pro Bowl Squad

Capt Robert Thompson Houston Pilots

Nathan Wesely WGMA

Melinda Whitney ILTA

Kirsten Whitman Shell

Capt. Bill Hennessey ExxonMobil

Kevin Hickey Houston Fuel Oil Terminal

Steve Huffman G&H Towing Co

Shareen Larmond WGMA

Albert Noggle Odfjell

US House of Representative Appointments Scheduled in Washington, D.C.

Francisco Canseco R-TX 23rd (West Texas) House Financial Services Committee

Michael Conaway House Agriculture Committee R-TX 11th (Odessa)

Rick Crawford House Transportation and Infrastructure R-AR 1st (Jonesboro)

Henry Cuellar House Agriculture Committee D-TX 28th (San Antonio)

Bill Flores House Budget Committee R-TX 17th (Waco)

Louis Ghomert Member of the I-69 Alliance R-TX 1st (Tyler)

Kay Granger House Appropriations Committee R-TX 12th (Ft. Worth)

Eddie Bernice Johnson House Transportation and Infrastructure D-TX 30th (Dallas)

Sam Johnson House Ways and Means Committee R-TX 3rd (Dallas)

Kenny Marchant House Ways and Means Committee R-TX 24th (Irving)

Randy Neugebauer House Agriculture Committee R-TX 19th (Lubbock)

Sylvestre Reyes House Armed Services Committee D-TX 16th (El Paso)

John Sullivan House Energy and Commerce Committee R-OK 1st (Tulsa)

An MSC Vessel Arrives from Deep Sea Photo Credit: Captain Louis Vest, Houston Pilots Association

Not Pictured: Olga Rodriguez, PHA

Stevedores and Terminal Operators

Line Handling

“Shoot me a note when the ship is tied up” - heard in operations and dispatch cen-

ters 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 pro-

fessionalism to ensure that the ship is safely tied up and they’re not crushed between the

two massive bodies.

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 seri-

ous 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 abso-

lutely 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

Mark Polk Hauls a Tanker’s Line

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

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 han-

dlers, 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.” Tex-

as 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 look-

ing 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 opera-

tors 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, Hou-

ston 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 usual-

ly 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 mak-

ing 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

to heavier gauge material that will secure the ship to shore or to a mooring station

alongside a berth. As seen in the diagram below, spring lines are led diagonally from

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

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

it’ll backlash—well these drums’ll do the 1. Bow Line 2. Forward Breast Line 3. After Bow Spring Line

4. Forward Quarter Spring Line 5. Quarter Breast Line 6. Stern Line

Basic Mooring Diagram

BM2 Stefanie Farmer Throws a Heaving Line from the Fantail of the USS Denver

Photo Credit: US Navy

same thing.”

New boats and new technolo-

gy 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 T-

Handle 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 al-

lows 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.”

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

any type of radio, if you broke down in the middle of the chan-

nel, 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,

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 catastro-

phes that’ve occurred on the ship channel. “When Goodpasture Grain

Houston Mooring Boatmen Haul in Lines

Sonny Becker Tying Up a Ship

Texas Mooring Boatman Mark Henry Moves to His Next Job

Houston Mooring Boatmen Jessie Scott and Bobby Kersey

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 immediate-

ly after mooring, and spills of various types.

In the ‘70’s, a gasoline spill at GaTex Pasadena occurred when

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 boat-

men 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

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.”

Houston Mooring Boatmen

Dolphins Play As a Tanker Enters the Ship Channel

Tanker Crewman Work the Winch as a Mooring Line is Hauled Tight

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 mo-

tors. Their sea stories run the gamut from old ships to

on-the-job hazards to tales of on-the-job creative think-

ing 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 four-

wheel-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

tanks near Old Manchester, and if the tank overfilled, they’d take a gallon

bucket, empty it out, throw it into the sea.

The boatmen de-

scribe 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 pro-

fessional 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

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.

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 dis-

patch, 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 remind-

er that not all the dangers faced by the boatmen come from the sea.

Want to Know More about the Angelo Petri? Turn the Page

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

Bobby Guides His Boat To the Next Job

Steve, Seen From Above

Into the Future

With changes on the dock and off, David Halbert aggre-

gates the discussion by talking about how each of the boatmen

that operate on the Houston Ship Channel are working to be-

come 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 infor-

mation.” Steve echos his thoughts about enhanced communica-

tion. “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 ser-

vice 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.”

Line Handling is a very physical job where new-hires need

to be trained extensively before they have the eye to see every-

thing that’s going on around them. With experience comes tech-

nical 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

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

Texas Mooring Boatman Mark Henry Poses

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

fornia. Built to circumvent high cost of rail transit for wine between California to Chicago, the 520 ft, 21,800 ton tanker be-

gan 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 An-

gelo 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 chromium-

nickel 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

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 car-

go 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 an-

other 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 rud-

der 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 park-

ing 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 num-

ber of years before she was lost to histo-

ry.—P. Seeba, GHPB

“[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 peo-ple, and we threatened them that unless they gave us some rate reduc-tions, we would build the ship, but they never thought we would or could do it. … but we did it.” -Mr. Louis Petri

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 re-

strictions, 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 crea-

tions 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 Com-

mander Michael Zidik at mi-

[email protected] or LT Margaret

Brown at [email protected] 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 (top-middle:) Ignacio Chivilo, Sorin Moga, and Luis Pineda, Tenaris (top-right:) Capt. Andreas Nicolaou, and Spilios Adamapoulos, Seaways Mari-time 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 (upper-right:) 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 MacFar-lane, Adobe Equipment, and Reid Eastman. (mid-right:) Capt. Robert Thompson, Hou-ston Pilots and Art Flanagan, Hub International Rigg (mid-lower-left:) Mike Cargol, Global Diving and Salvage and Bill Young, Malin (mid-lower-middle:) Elizabeth Hol-land, Lensec, and Ed Foster, the Mundy Companies (mid-lower-right:) Cynthia Powers, Diamond Offshore Drilling, and Dave Cooley, GHPB (lower-right) Jorgen Jorgen-son, Biehl & Co, Jürgen Schrö-der, Schroder Marine (lower-middle:) Peter McCallum, Best Bet Marine Services, George Pontikos, Odfjell Ter-minal Company (lower-right:) CDR Jim Robertson, USCG, Michael Morris, and JJ Plun-kett, Houston Pilots (bottom-left:) The Commerce Club meets at Brady’s Landing. (bottom-right:) CAPT James Whitehead, USCG addresses the Commerce Club

Port of Galveston CEO Leaving for Port Everglades, FL

Galveston CEO/Port Direc-

tor Steve Cernak was confirmed as

the Port Director for Port Ever-

glades 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 Gal-

veston begins a nationwide search

for a long-term replacement.

PHA names COL Len Waterworth, USA (Ret.) interim CEO A graduate of the Army War College, George Washing-

ton 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.”

DHS NOTICE 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 opera-

tor of a Centralized Exanimation

Station (CES) for the Port of Hou-

ston.

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.

Take the Guesswork Out of Your Business

Nobody else can tell you where your

vessel is going—don’t just see the

present, see the future with Har-

borLights.

Where’s Your Information Coming From?

HarborLights vessel movement infor-

mation is updated in real-time by the

Houston Pilot dispatch center.

Greater Houston Port Bureau

W H E N I S Y O U R S H I P C O M I N G I N ?

Anybody can throw numbers at

you, but no one else can tell you what they

mean. When thousands of dollars an

hour hang in the balance, accuracy isn’t a

luxury - it’s a necessity.

Other organizations can offer you

AIS tracking systems that show you where

the vessel is or was as a dot on a screen. But

your vessels and your business are more

than that to you and they’re more than that

to us. With a dot on the screen, you still

have to guess when your vessel will arrive,

but with HarborLights, you’ll know.

Developed by Dave Morrell of

Mare Librum Consulting, HarborLights, is

the only program fed by Houston Pilots

dispatch information—the most timely

and accurate information on the Houston

Ship Channel.

Don’t bet your success on guess-

work, use HarborLights to take your busi-

ness to the next level. Contact us at the

Greater Houston Port Bureau for subscrip-

tion information.

WWW.TXGULF.ORG Greater Houston Port Bureau—111 East Loop North—Houston, TX—77029 713.678.4300

Spotlight on Peter MacCallum 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 experi-

ence.” Soon, Pete started work as an underwater welder for the Arco Company, and his pas-

sion 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 attend-

ing 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 gen-

tleman. “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, ex-

panded 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 be-

came aware of the need for additional line handling services.

He began his quest to learn everything he could about line han-

dling 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 engi-

neer 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-

Owner—Best Bet Line Handlers

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 Ser-

vices. “I couldn’t thank Theresa (Harper), Jason (Hayley), and Bill (Mathis) at the Port of Texas City enough. They have a great op-

eration 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 re-

lated 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 re-

lated 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 de-

livers 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-the-

art vessels, they are also able to coordinate deliveries, inspections, cargo movement, repairs, and

handle heavy-lift salvage and diving operations.

Port Watch

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 ves-

sel 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 expe-

rienced 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 ves-

sel 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 pos-

sesses. 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-

Tom Marian—Buffalo Marine Service Turn of the Century Retrospection

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 posi-

tively over the last dozen years with a significant growth

pattern from 2003 through 2008. Not unexpectedly, this cate-

gory’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 con-

tinue 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 the-

se 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

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Upcoming Events: 9 February Commerce Club Luncheon

Capt. Robert Thompson, Houston Pilots

8 March Commerce Club Luncheon Ron Hyden, Halliburton

12 April Commerce Club Luncheon Gary Sera, TEEX

10 May Commerce Club Luncheon

12 July Commerce Club Luncheon

18 August 2012 Annual Maritime Dinner

13 September Commerce Club Luncheon

11 October GHCA Annual Luncheon

5 November Captain’s Cup Golf Tournament