“I congratulate you on being the leader in the security management field,” said Patti Macon, Environmental, Health & Safety Certification Manager for ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc. “We consider the Port of Houston Authority our partner in security management system evaluation.” Macon noted that the Port Authority has achieved continual improvement with each audit. In February 2008, the Port of Houston Authority set a standard for security as the first port authority in the world to receive the international designation of ISO 28000:2007 certification for its Port Police and perimeter security operations. The SMS was modeled after the Port Authority’s highly successful Environmental Management System, which made it the first port authority in the U.S. to attain ISO 14001 certification in 2002. In his monthly report, Chief Executive Officer Alec G. Dreyer said March was strong in all commodity categories, calling it the best month since he joined the Port Authority in September 2009.
“Ship arrivals at our container facilities were up a strong 22 percent for the month, regaining what was lost in February due to the short month and fog-related impacts,” he said. Twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) volumes and container tonnage were both up 16 percent for the month, Dreyer noted. Year-to-date, TEUs are up 6 percent and tonnage is up 7 percent.
“Steel also had an excellent month in March, with tonnage up 112 percent or 192,000 tons to a monthly total of 363,000 tons,” he said. “Year-to-date, steel is at 863,000 tons – ahead of last year by nearly 400,000 tons. Turning Basin revenue is up 43 percent – 31 percent for the first quarter – which is directly related to the increase in steel.
“Container volumes for April also look very strong through the first three weeks of this month,” he said. “We had two 8,000-TEU ship arrivals– the largest container ships that have ever come into the Gulf (of Mexico).”