WASHINGTON: Port Houston Exec-utive Director Roger Guenther may now waive certain charges for its cargo-moving customers affected by Hurricane Harvey. “We don’t want to penalize the customer due to hardships from Hurricane Harvey,” Guenther said. “That’s it in a nutshell.” He received this new authority during a special Port Commission meeting held Wednesday. If customers couldn’t get their products out of port due to Hurricane Harvey and are asking Port Houston to waive storage fees or other tariff charges, Guenther now has the flexibility to consider those requests. He said these decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis to adjust tariff charges. Tariffs describe the charges, rules and regulations for Port Houston facilities.
Port Commission Chair Janiece Longoria added that it provides Guenther “flexibility to do something rational and sensible in light of this catastrophic storm.” Both Longoria and Guenther were in Washington earlier this week pushing for emergency supplemental funding to get the Houston Ship Channel back to its authorized depth and width and to repair dredge disposal placement areas and levies. “We had minimal impacts to our port-owned facilities, but we have significant impacts to the Houston Ship Channel from siltation,” Longoria said. “We have as much as 10 feet of silt in certain parts of the Houston Ship Channel, as much as 5 feet of silt right here at the Turning Basin.” She said the Texas delegation has been very supportive of that effort. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started emergency dredging to get the channel back to its pre-storm condition, but Guenther said the channel wasn’t completely at its authorized depth and width before Hurricane Harvey. Longoria added that the Houston Ship Channel needs more than one dredge to do the work. “We’re hoping that the Army Corps will mobilize more assets to this region shortly,” she said. “They just need money. They need funding. They need appropriations to do it.”
