Houston Port officials reach out to Baltimore after fatal bridge collapse as we examine safety measures here
HOUSTON - Houston Port officials have reached out to their counterparts in Baltimore to offer help following the fatal bridge collapse on Tuesday. They are also talking with us about what's being done to keep such a disaster from happening here.
One major project has been underway for several years to widen the Houston Ship Channel, which has over 230,000 boats, barges and ships moving through every year. There are entire teams of people and organizations working to make sure it's done safely.
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We visited the U.S. Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service center, just one of several layers of risk management.
"It's almost like an Air Traffic Control, but we're not directing them, unless we have to," explains U.S. Coast Guard Captain of Port, Captain Keith Donohue.
The workers in Vessel Traffic Service talk directly to ships' captains and tug pilots making their way through Houston waterways.
"The marine transportation system is one of our primary missions in the Coast Guard," says Capt. Donohue.
These employees also use cameras to keep an eye out.
"They stay in 24/7 watch. They provide advisory service to vessels as they're coming in," Donohue explains.
"Safety's a priority for moving the 9,000 ships that we move here in the Houston Ship Channel. It's the busiest waterway in the nation," says Port Houston Executive Director Roger Guenther. He reached out to the head of the Port of Baltimore following the fatal bridge collapse after the cargo ship crashed into it.
"Just offered, first of all, our condolences to those people that died in this tragic event...being there for support in whatever way we can, we're here to do that...their port's shutdown. It's a big economic engine. A lot of jobs are going to be affected there," Guenther explains.
The Houston Ship Channel provides 1.3 million jobs in Texas and moves about $900 billion in cargo a year.
"We have a prevention department that works every day inspecting ships and looking at regulations at international conventions. And then when something does happen, they look at what the cause of that was and then get the word out to help prevent it from happening again," says Donohue.
"We make it a priority for Houston to ensure we take all the measures we can," Guenther says.