HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Port of Houston Authority facilities resumed normal operations at all terminals yesterday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. PHA was granted U.S. Coast Guard clearance for all of its facilities late Wednesday and employees reported back to work yesterday. To accommodate its customers, PHA will open its Barbours Cut, Bayport and Turning Basin terminals on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 8 a.m. until noon, and 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.
Photos accompanying this release are available at http://media.primezone.com/poha/pages/facilities.html
Carnival Cruise's Conquest arrived at the Port of Houston Authority's new Bayport Cruise Terminal yesterday and disembarked 380 passengers. Today, Carnival's Ecstasy will disembark approximately 550 passengers. These passengers opted to remain aboard the vessels following their respective voyages. Both Carnival's Conquest and Ecstasy vessels were docked in New Orleans, where they were deployed following the closure of the Port of Galveston due to Hurricane Ike. PHA expedited the opening of the cruise terminal to facilitate the request of Carnival Cruise.
PHA will operate Carnival's Conquest and Ecstasy cruise ships on Sept. 20-21, with 1,700 passengers expected on Saturday and 3,000 on Sunday. PHA has an agreement with Carnival to operate these vessels while the Port of Galveston recovery efforts continue.
For more information, please go to the PHA Web site, www.portofhouston.com, or Carnival Cruise Lines' Web site, www.carnival.com.
The Port of Houston Authority owns and operates the public facilities located along the Port of Houston, the 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities designed for handling general cargo, containers, grain and other dry bulk materials, project and heavy lift cargo, and other types of cargo. Each year, more than 7,700 vessels call at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage and second in overall total tonnage. The port authority plays a vital role in ensuring navigational safety along the Houston Ship Channel, which has been instrumental in Houston's development as a center of international trade. The Barbours Cut Container Terminal and Central Maintenance Facility are the first of any U.S. port facilities to develop and implement an innovative Environmental Management System that meets the rigorous standards of ISO 14001. PHA is the first port authority in the world to receive ISO 28000:2007 certification for Port Police and the perimeter security operations at both the Barbours Cut and Bayport Container and Cruise Terminals. Additionally, the port is an approved delivery point for Coffee "C" futures contracts traded on the New York Board of Trade's Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange. For more information, please visit www.portofhouston.com.
To access the port's web site photo gallery, please visit http://www.portofhouston.com/publicrelations/publicrelations.html and click the link for PHA Photo Gallery.
The Port of Houston Authority logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=720
