Houston Commission approves US$7.2 million for port improvements

THE Port of Houston Authority (PHA) has been given the green light to proceed with a project to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel, after its Port Commission approved the awarding of a US$5 million, five-year service contract to TCB Inc/Gahagan & Bryant Associates, Inc.

The joint venture will be responsible for the engineering work, design and construction management of the project.

As the local sponsor for the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channels project to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel, the PHA has been intensely involved with all facets of the project together with the US Army Corps of Engineers, and will continue to be involved in future, a statement issued on behalf of port authorities said.

Also at the meeting, port commissioners approved advertising and was in receipt of proposals to purchase an optical character recognition (OCR) system for use at Bayport and Barbours Cut container terminals for $2.2 million. The OCR system employs digital imaging and OCR technologies to automatically read equipment IDs on containers, chassis and truck license plates at the gate. The technology is expected reduce truck turn times, eliminate mistakes made through manual data entry and reduce truck idling time.

Source: Schednet