HOUSTON, April 21, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A limited number of seats are still available for a special Earth Day tour of the Houston Ship Channel hosted by Channel 2 TV anchor Jerome Gray aboard the M/V Sam Houston tour boat Thursday afternoon.
The one-hour tour will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Sam Houston Pavilion and will include a briefing about the Port of Houston Authority's commitment to environmental sustainability.
Against the backdrop of operations at the nation's largest port in terms of waterborne tonnages, tour passengers will also share a light lunch with Gray in honor of Earth Day; visitors on tours scheduled at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. will receive special treats.
Daily tours of the ship channel have been conducted aboard the Sam Houston for more than 50 years.
The vessel was recently retrofitted with a new cleaner diesel engine and generator, making it even more environmentally friendly. Funding for the new engine was provided through the federal Diesel Emissions Reduction Act and Texas Emission Reduction Plan grants.
There are still a few seats available on each of the three tours. Reservations can be made on the Port of Houston Authority's Web site at www.portofhouston.com or by calling 713-670-2416.
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, there are more than 7,700 vessel calls 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. The second recertification of those facilities in 2009 included an extension for the state-of-the-art Bayport Container Terminal. 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 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