HOUSTON, April 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) commission approved several recommendations involving contract awards, bids and proposals, professional services and general administrative and operational matters during its public meeting on Monday, April 25, 2005. Chairman Jim Edmonds presided over the meeting with Vice Chairman Kase Lawal, Commissioner Steve Phelps, Commissioner Jim Fonteno, Commissioner Jimmy Burke, Commissioner Cheryl Thompson-Draper, and Commissioner Janiece Longoria.
BAYPORT MATTERS
(Agenda item G9) The commission approved a recommendation to award Klotz Associates, Inc. a nearly $2.7 million professional services contract for container yard design at the Bayport Terminal Complex Phase 1. Klotz Associates will design approximately 100 acres of additional container yard, including drainage, electrical service and lighting. Klotz also will prepare multiple competitive sealed proposal (CSP) packages to enable additional container yard to be built in stages as needed by the PHA.
(Agenda item K6) The commission evaluated CSPs and ranked CB&I Constructors and Caldwell Tanks, Inc. first and second, respectively, for a potential construction contract award ranging from $1.4 million to 1.61 million for an elevated water storage tank at Bayport Phase 1A.
(Agenda item K15) The commission approved a recommendation to reject all proposals for five diesel electric container yard cranes for Bayport with the option for up to seven additional cranes. The PHA will seek proposals for cranes with a priced option of adding a container locating system and automatic steering to the cranes.
ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS
(Agenda item G1) The commission awarded a two-year, $250,000 contract to TRC Environmental Corporation for air quality environmental consulting services. TRC will review and implement federal, state and local air quality standards, conduct emission inventories and assist with general and transportation conformity, permitting, modeling and grant funding.
(Agenda item L1) The commission evaluated qualifications and ranked DNV Certification, Inc. and ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc. first and second, respectively, for a potential professional services contract award for an ANAB-certified ISO 14001 registrar to evaluate the PHA environmental management system's conformance to the ISO 14001:2004 standard at the Turning Basin Terminal, Central Maintenance Facility and Barbours Cut Container Terminal.
REAL ESTATE MATTERS
(Agenda item M4) The commission authorized the PHA to accept the $6 million bid from Agrifos Fertilizer, Inc. for the purchase of nearly 342 acres of surplus land located at the PHA's East and West Jones Dredge Disposal site. The PHA also will purchase a pollution and remediation liability insurance policy at a cost not to exceed $600,000 from ECS/Greenwich Insurance Company, the current environmental insurance carrier placed by the PHA's current insurance carrier John L. Wortham. The policy will cover a ten-year term with a $20 million per occurrence and aggregate limit in connection to this transaction.
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 6,600 vessels call at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage, second in overall total tonnage, and sixth largest in the world. 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. 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
The PHA has a website photo gallery featuring images of port commissioners, executives, facilities, business activities, community outreach events and activities, environmental projects, and logos. Users can download the gallery's high-resolution images at no charge after registering as a member. The port website's simple online member registration procedure requires users to submit their name, company, telephone number, and e-mail address, personal password, and description of the intended use of the downloaded images.
To access the 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 can be found at: http://media.primezone.com/prs/single/?pkgid=720