By David Taylor / Managing Editor
A public meeting hosted by the Port of Houston Authority in Baytown Tuesday night sounded like good news for area residents on unsightly barge fleeting potentially saving the areas bays. The meeting was important enough it attracted two former Baytown mayors in Stephen DonCarlos, Calvin Mundinger, and current mayor Charles Johnson.
Many attending feared the worst—the Port was planning on allowing barge fleeting in the bays and lakes along the Ship Channel.
DonCarlos, who has served as a Port Commissioner since 2013, allayed resident’s anxiety.
“This is not that we are allowing barge fleeting in Burnett’s Bay, Crystal Lake Bay, Scott’s Bay, or Black Duck Bay,” he told attendees.
Instead, DonCarlos said the Port was bringing a proposal that would ultimately protect both the safety and view of residents living in those areas.
Three years ago, the barge companies were interested in extending their current barge fleeting area and wanted to secure approximately two-thirds of the way across the mouth of Burnett Bay.
“That immediately set off alarm bells to me and I blocked it at that time,” DonCarlos said.
Since then, he said they have been working on the proposal of a barge fleeting policy that would balance the interests of the barging companies that need places to park and the rights of the residents.
“My position all along and my reason for insisting on this policy is that we wanted to protect your view and your safety. The issue, obviously, is you did not buy houses along the bay so you could look out at a sea of barges. Secondly, if you are a recreational boater, you don’t need to interact with barges with your jet skis or ski boats or anything. I pointed out to the commissioners that we have a lot of recreational activity, and we want to keep barges and our citizens apart,” the port commissioner said.
He said he is cautiously optimistic that the proposal is a fitting compromise and barge companies have seen the maps and seem to be fine with the proposal for the most part.
“You will all continue to enjoy a beautiful bayside view and hopefully safety for utilizing our bays,” he said.
Baytown has the most residential areas along the bays and stands to be affected more by barges, large terminals, and barge speed.
“I’m encouraging the companies to go on the industrial side of the channel. You’ll probably see some activity around the DuPont plant over there. We are not encouraging or allowing, through this program, barge fleeting near your homes or inside the bay,” the former mayor DonCarlos said.
The port is a significant driver of the local, state, and federal economy. In 2022, they provide 1.4 million jobs in Texas, 3.37 million nationwide, and $906 billion in economic impact across the U.S.
“That’s a big deal and we’re still talking about numbers that are three years ago,” said Garry McMahan, real property manager at the port who is responsible for barge fleeting leasing.
The Port of Houston ranks No. 1 in several categories: waterborne tonnage, export state, in exports of Petroleum and petroleum products, in resin exports with 50 percent market share, container port in the U.S. Gulf Coast, in deep water vessel traffic, and No. 1 port in the U.S. The Port of Houston handles at least 73 percent of containers in the U.S. Gulf of America. Each year, the port handles more than 8,300 deep draft ship calls and more than 200,000 barge transits.
“We’re here today because these barges have to go somewhere and that’s what we want to talk about,” McMahan said.
Both McMahan and DonCarlos equated the barge fleeting issue to the wild, wild west.
“Several years ago, they were parking anywhere and everywhere they could find a spot and it became a navigation issue.
Their solution was, if a barge company wanted to fleet a barge in Harris County, they would have to get a lease from the Port Houston Authority.
For the most part, it solved the issue, however, with the turn of the economy, more and more barge companies are likely to offend.
McMahan presented a map demonstrating where the restricted areas for barge fleeting have been proposed. If the public and barge companies agree, the proposal could go before commissioners as early as the April meeting this year.
Former Baytown mayor Calvin Mundinger lived across the street from Burnett’s Bay.
“I spent all my childhood fishing and playing in Burnett Bay,” he said. “It’s a shallow bay
Mundinger said it’s a proven fact that there are suspended contaminants in the floor of the bay.
“If these guys got in here with tugboats or barges, it would release all of that. I’m glad to hear that they’re closing that off because the real threat would not be a loose barge, it would have been environmental bringing those barges and tugboats in here,” he claimed.
Mundinger also serves on the board of the Cedar Bayou Navigation District.
“None of us knows how much more container shipping and traffic is coming. The growth could be staggering, so all the more reason that growth will be managed by the port,” Mundinger said.
DonCarlos said there will be some education meetings between the port and barge fleeters in preparation for the changes.
“It is going to be a major change for us at the port because we’ve never had actual exclusionary zones in a policy,” he said.
Port staff will pour over the comments made at the public meeting and digest the information and make changes to the rules before presenting the final copy to commissioners at the April board meeting.
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