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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Larry Tobin 281-326-1687
Claims about the number of jobs to be created by the proposed container port at Bayport have fluctuated wildly and bear little resemblance to the reality of port operations, according to port watchers angered by what they term a misinformation campaign.
"The Port's claims about numbers of jobs are all over the map," said Jim Blackburn, Chair of the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association (GBCPA). "They like to project enormous numbers of jobs, but the numbers are vague, shifting and changing, with all the hallmarks of pure fiction."
His comments were triggered by Port of Houston Authority Executive Director Tom Kornegay recently telling state legislators: "Bayport will be a catalyst for 39,000 jobs at full build-out." Kornegay made the claim at a legislative hearing called by State Representatives John Davis and Rick Noriega in Clear Lake on November 19. He gave no indication of how this estimate broke down into job categories.
Larry Tobin of GBCPA noted that 85 percent of the cargo moving through the Port of Houston does not go through docks operated by the Port Authority at all, but through private docks. "This is where the big job numbers are--not in publicly operated container docks. It is sheer misinformation to imply that container traffic will produce major new employment," he said.
"We urge people not to be taken in by extravagant and inflated Port claims about jobs and Bayport," Tobin added. "It is difficult for citizens to find good information about this. But other container ports around the nation tell the story: the whole point about containers is that they make shipping less labor-intensive."
The Port Authority's claims for Bayport fall flat when one looks at their actual employee numbers. The Port 's own annual report for 1998 indicated that it had 475 full-time employees that year, plus 391 part-time workers from various longshoremen union halls. That makes a total of less than 1,000 Port employees overall--866, to be precise.
Two years ago, during the run-up to the 1999 election when port bonds were on the ballot, the Port Authority spent close to $2 million on a public relations campaign that prominently included television advertising spots. A TV ad headlined "Container of Jobs" implied that container business generates 200,000 jobs. Similarly, a Port Authority brochure put out during the run-up to the 1999 bond issue ballot said: "The Port of Houston Authority now generates about 205,000 jobs."
In mid-2000, an article in an "advertising supplement " to the Houston Chronicle (June 25) said the planned container facility at Bayport would add more than 24,000 jobs to Houston's economy. It went on to claim that once the proposed Bayport expansion was under way, "economists predict the 75,485 direct jobs and 129,033 related jobs supporting the port will double."
In the same article, the Port spokeswoman Rosie Barrera was quoted as saying: "We think the construction impact will open 24,000 jobs alone, and after completion, we expect the port to generate about 28,000 jobs."
Looking at the Port Authority's existing container facility at Barbour's Cut, however, gives a different picture. According to union estimates provided to Taxpayers for Sensible Port Policies in 1999, the maximum number of jobs at Barbour's Cut if it were working at full capacity, with all 12 cranes utilized and over a full 24-hour period, was 977.
That total of 977 was broken down into four groups: 420 contracted stevedoring jobs (mainly crane operators and offloading gangs); 250 shipping company employees (mainly crane operators and mechanics) ; 74 railyard workers contracted by the stevedoring companies; and 233 actual Port jobs. The Port jobs were further broken down: 74 maintenance people, 70 clerks, 25 in management, 25 carrier route operators, 15 foremen,14 responsible for container movements, plus 10 security personnel.
Thus at the Barbour's Cut container terminal, the reality is less than 1,000 jobs, with fewer than 250 of them being Port employees.
Another setting comparable to the proposed Bayport facility is the container port planned for Texas City, where job projections have been in line with the Barbour's Cut numbers--in the hundreds, not in the thousands. According to a Chronicle news report (December 6, 2000), the construction and operation of the terminal promises up to 1,200 jobs.
Other Texas City figures, given in a July 2000 document prepared as part of the Environmental Impact Statement process for that project, indicate a construction work force of 200 to 600 people and an operating workforce of 200 to 300--a maximum of fewer than 1,000 jobs. "This is the reality," said Blackburn.
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Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association
P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586
Phone: 281-326-3343
Website: www.gbcpa.org
E-mail: gbcpa@gbcpa.org