Dockside SU2008.indd - Port Freeport

FROM THE BRIDGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DOCKSIDE
A.J. “Pete” Reixach, Jr.
Executive Port Director/CEO
Blossoming like a flower
Looking out over Port Freeport from the bridge
of the heavylift project carrier M/V Beluga
Fusion on a recent Sunday evening, I could
plainly see how our seaport is blossoming, its
petals unfurling like those of a rose in bloom.
The vessel, berthed at our Dock 5, was the
site that evening of a reception celebrating the
moves through Port Freeport by RBC Project
LLC of windmill units that over the past year
have been streaming through our port on
their way from manufacture in India by Suzlon
Energy Ltd. to eco-friendly wind energy farms
in West Texas and beyond.
From the bridge, I could see on Quintana Island the twin domes of the
Freeport LNG facility, a state-of-the-industry liquefied natural gas receiving
terminal that in April took delivery of its first shipment of the environmentally
favorable energy source.
Closer in view was the American Rice Inc. (ARI)/Grupo SOS facility, with
recently completed additional rice bins that are augmenting the longtime
Port tenant’s capabilities in annually serving U.S. and global markets with
hundreds of thousands of tons of rice, much of which originates in Texas
and South Louisiana paddies.
Other time-honored Port tenants such as banana importers Dole and Chiquita,
as well as the latest addition to their number, Turbana, are expanding their
export business, with southbound shipments of everything from synthetic
resin and PVC pipe to clothing and automobiles.
Containerized cargo activity is already on the rise at Port Freeport, where
we’re developing the Velasco Terminal to be the newest container facility
on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Meanwhile, the Texas General Land Office is proceeding with dismantling
and removal of an old oil drill rig from the Port channel – a port channel
that we look forward to seeing deepened and widened to accommodate even
more trade.
Everywhere one looks at Port Freeport, there’s activity blooming, and, with
some 7,500 acres expanding farther than the eye can see for future development,
the petals of our proverbial rose have plenty more room to unfold.
Stay tuned. The best is yet to come!
PORT COMMISSION
James F. Brown, Jr.
Chairman
Thomas S. Perryman
Vice Chairman
Ravi K. Singhania
Secretary
Bill Terry
Assistant Secretary
John W. Damon
Port Commissioner
J. M. “Mike” Lowrey
Port Commissioner
George T. Wommack, Jr.
General Counsel
DIRECTORS
A.J. “Pete” Reixach, Jr.
Executive Port Director / CEO
Phyllis Saathoff
Managing Director
David M. Knuckey
Director of Engineering/
Construction
Al Durel
Director of Operations
Michael Wilson
Director of Trade Development
ON THE COVER
The Freeport LNG receiving terminal’s first vessel call came
April 15, when a 908-foot-long LNG tanker arrived from
Trinidad & Tobago carrying 133,000 cubic meters of LNG.
8th Annual
TACFT
5
Freeport Harbor Project
9
Port News
11
Employee Focus
TWIC Enrollment
Krewe of Port Freeport
Port Freeport partners with Dragados SPL
Peter Wurschy joins Port Freeport
Homeland Security
Gulf Chemical
3
Freeport LNG
7
Port Freeport
Golf Tournament
10
Nancy Stephens
Editor
Tricia Park
Assistant Editor
Sarah Romero
Art Director
Port Freeport
Publisher
Edna Hancock-Varner
Em-Print Company
Account Executive
Paul Scott Abbott
Writer
Abercrombie Photography
Christman & Lincecum Imaging
Photographers
A.J. “Pete” Reixach, Jr.
Contributing Writer
DOCKSIDE is published by
Port Freeport
200 West Second St., 3rd Floor
Freeport, TX 77541
Phone: 1-800-362-5743
Fax: (979) 233-5625
E-mail: stephens@portfreeport.com
Web site: www.portfreeport.com
DOCKSIDE © 2008 by Port Freeport,
all rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or part without express written
permission is strictly prohibited.
P O R T F R E E P O R T 1 D O C K S I D E
P O R T F R E E P O R T 2 D O C K S I D E

Gulf Chemical
has long history
of supporting
Freeport, its port
Ever since opening its Freeport facility three
and a half decades ago, Gulf Chemical
& Metallurgical Corp. has relied upon
Port Freeport for shipment of the essential
materials it derives from recycling of spent
catalysts from petroleum refiners.
“We do have choices of other ports, but
I have no desire to support anything but
our local port,” said Jay Jaffe, vice president
of catalyst acquisitions at Gulf Chemical,
which was formed in 1947 and has had its
key facility in Freeport since 1973. “There
are other ports that would like our business,
but they can’t compare with the service we
get from Port Freeport.”
P O R T F R E E P O R T 3 D O C K S I D E
The vital metallic materials that Gulf Chemical
exports to Asia from Port Freeport typically are
transported in 1.5-metric-ton bags, or “super sacks,”
on flatbed trucks that move at the pace of more than
1,000 runs over a three- to four-day
period between Gulf Chemical’s
Freeport facility and the dock.
Port officials have coordinated
efforts with Gulf Chemical
leaders and other stakeholders in
development and implementation
of procedures that facilitate the
swift movement of these trucks
through port gates and the efficient
loading by stevedores of the cargo
onto oceangoing vessels.
“Gulf Chemical is a local industry
that has gone out of its way
to support its local port with
its exports,” said Port Freeport
Executive Port Director/CEO
A.J. “Pete” Reixach, Jr. “We have
worked together to find logistics
solutions, and we’re both enjoying
the rewards of our partnership.”
Gulf Chemical also continues to play
a major role, in conjunction with the
Port, in significant community events,
including the annual Take-A-Child
Fishing Tournament that is hosted
by Port Freeport and the Coastal
Conservation Association - Texas
for which Gulf Chemical has been
a platinum sponsor since the event’s
inception in 2001. Gulf Chemical
also was top-level sponsor of Port
Freeport’s March golf tournament,
which benefited Junior Achievement
of Brazoria County.
Gulf Chemical’s Freeport facility,
located just 2 miles from Port Freeport
docks, employs some 175 people in
an around-the-clock operation.
Operations such as those of Gulf Chemical are
instrumental in usefully coupling the increase in
North American oil refining with growing global
demand for steel and related products.
Captain Kovacsik Stefan accepts a maiden voyage plaque from Port Freeport
Managing Director Phyllis Saathoff aboard the M/V Tasman Chief on May 30.
P O R T F R E E P O R T 4 D O C K S I D E
As the world’s largest recycler of spent catalysts
– more than 2 billion pounds since 1973 – from
the oil-refining industry, Gulf Chemical extracts
commodities such as molybdenum, vanadium, nickel
and cobalt. These materials, because
of their high strength and ability
to resist heat and/or corrosion, are
valuable in the making of stainless
steel and various alloys used in
specialty steel, automotive and
foundry industries.
Gulf Chemical is a strong proponent
of numerous recycling initiatives,
from recycling of office paper and
aluminum cans to a new effort to
collect unused hotel amenities and
donate them to local women’s and
homeless shelters and the Texas
Port Ministry that serves mariners
calling at Port Freeport.
Gulf Chemical’s operations are
slated to soon expand to a facility
in Fort Saskatchewan, a suburb of
Edmonton, Alberta, and company
officials are looking at how Port
Freeport’s extensive rail connection
may be used to facilitate links
between the Canadian and Texas
facilities. Company officials also are
looking forward to the opening of
Velasco Terminal containerized
cargo operations at Port Freeport,
which should play a role in serving
the firm’s European customers.
Gulf Chemical is a subsidiary of
Eramet, a global leader in mining
and metallurgy based in Paris,
France. Eramet has a workforce
of about 15,000 employees in
more than 20 countries on five
continents. The strategy of
sustainable development
using innovation,
investment and
continual improvements in safety
and performance are the benchmarks
that Eramet conveys to its customers,
employees and shareholders.

New facility receives
first LNG shipments
Both Henry and Port Freeport Executive Port
Director/CEO A.J. “Pete” Reixach Jr. noted that
the process of bringing in the first vessels went very
smoothly, with solid performances from everyone
from tug and pilot boat captains to line handlers.
“Freeport LNG has done a commendable job,
including in carrying out construction in a manner
that has served to protect wetlands and through the
way in which company officials have explained to
the community the safety of their product and their
operations,” Reixach said.
Natural gas offers an environmentally friendly
fuel alternative to coal and oil. Because of its
colorless, odorless, nontoxic nature, LNG poses no
significant environmental concern in the unlikely
event of accidental release. For more than 40 years,
the LNG industry has a solid track record of no
pollution and no fatalities.
The product comes to the Freeport facility aboard
double-hulled tanker vessels, arriving in highly
compressed, superchilled form. The vaporization
trains at the facility are used to heat the liquidform
product, increases its volume 600-fold before
transporting it as natural gas through a 9.6-mile
pipeline to Stratton Ridge, a major interconnection
point with intrastate pipeline systems.
Culminating more than seven years of efforts, the
Freeport LNG terminal on Port Freeport’s Quintana
Island property is in operation, having received
its first vessel shipment of liquefied natural gas in
April.
The $750 million-plus project, developed by
Freeport LNG Development L.P. and ConocoPhillips,
already has been a generator of more than 1,500
construction jobs and will maintain a role as a
significant force in the economic wellbeing of Port
Freeport and Brazoria County, as well as in providing
a ready source of eco-friendly energy.
The Freeport LNG receiving terminal and
regasification facility, which entered planning stages
in early 2001, now is in service on 172 acres on
Quintana Island, where its twin white tank domes
have quickly become a landmark for mariners and
fishermen alike.
The terminal’s first vessel call came April 15,
when a 908-foot-long LNG tanker arrived from
Trinidad & Tobago carrying 133,000 cubic meters
of LNG. On May 9, a second vessel brought a
P O R T F R E E P O R T 7 D O C K S I D E
similar shipment, with the combined offloaded cargo
sufficient to fill the two tanks to 80 percent of storage
capacity.
Gradual offloading of the LNG allowed the tanks
to safely reach their operating internal temperature
of minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. That process has
been followed with testing of the send-out portion
of the plant, including seven vaporization units, or
trains.
“We’re delighted to see these ships come in and
the commissioning of our plant,” said Bill Henry,
vice president of Freeport LNG Development L.P.
“We’re really excited about bringing additional ships
and LNG into Port Freeport.”
When at full first-phase operation, the facility will
be able to vaporize 1.55 billion cubic feet (BCF) of
LNG per day. A planned second phase could yield
additional throughput of 1.15 BCF per day.
The initial capacity is fully contracted for
under separate long-term terminal use agreements
with ConocoPhillips, The Dow Chemical Co. and
Mitsubishi Global Gas Corp.
P O R T F R E E P O R T 8 D O C K S I D E

PORT FREEPORT GOLF TOURNAMENT RAISES
$20,642.21
FOR JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF BRAZORIA COUNTY
A project to significantly enhance Freeport Harbor
and its ability to handle tanker ships and other large
vessels is moving forward.
“I am pleased to see this important project continue to
move forward,” said U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. “I
have been a strong supporter of the Port’s efforts to
meet the increasing trade needs of our country and
this region.
“It is vitally important to our economy that we
maintain our trade infrastructure, and this project is
a prime example of doing just that,” he continued.
Port Freeport Port Commission Chairman James
F. Brown Jr. commented, “We are pleased with the
manner in which this vital project is advancing.
“These harbor improvements are essential to our
Port’s capability to efficiently accommodate vessel
traffic, including the new class of increasingly large
ships coming into service, for the benefit of the local
and national economies,” Brown added.
A draft feasibility report and environmental impact
statement are moving this summer through U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers review processes. Corps of Engineers’
Galveston office Project Manager Cynthia Burke said
she anticipates the final versions of these reports to be
complete by next spring, with final feasibility phase
approval expected to come from the federal agency’s
headquarters in calendar year 2009. Pending availability
of funds, the pre-engineering and design phase would
begin before the end of fiscal year 2009.
A preliminary benefit-to-cost ratio has indicated that
the project’s benefit will be more than three times
its $347 million cost, which is to be shared evenly
between the Port and the federal government.
The project calls for deepening the Port’s main
channel, currently 45 feet deep, to 55 feet. The
project also calls for additional improvements,
including the expansion of the navigation channel to
the Stauffer Channel that serves the Port’s emerging
Velasco Terminal, as well as channel width and
turning basin enhancements.
C o n t i n u i n g i t s
commitment to the
younger residents of
the community, Port
Freeport has presented
to Junior Achievement
of Brazoria County
more than $20,000
raised through a benefit
golf tournament.
“Port Freeport is
dedicated to giving back
to our community and,
in particular, supporting
efforts that benefit the youth of our community,” said
Port Commission Chairman James F. Brown Jr., who
presented a $20,642.21 check to Junior Achievement
representatives at the commission’s March 27
meeting. “We’re really proud to have the opportunity
to serve as host of the tournament and play a role in
the commendable efforts of Junior Achievement.”
Since 1956, Junior Achievement of Brazoria
County has been educating and inspiring
youth to value free enterprise,
business, financial literacy and
economics in order to improve
the quality of their lives. Last
year, nearly 8,000 students
in all grades, kindergartners
t h r o u g h h i g h s c h o o l
seniors, in 43 local schools
were presented Junior
Achievement programs by
some 500 volunteers.
“We’re thrilled with Port
Freeport and all the hard work the
people of the Port put into the event, as well
From left, Port Freeport Executive Port Director/CEO A. J. Reixach, Jr.; JA Program Manager Stephanie Ward;
Port Commission Chairman James F. Brown Jr.; JA Board Member Freddy Jagush; JA Board Chairman Rich
Raun; JA Board Member Jim Heath; JA President Kim Effenberger; JA Board Member Tim Daeschner.
as delighted with the
amount of funds raised,
which is the largest
amount raised this
school year,” said Kim
Effenberger, president of
Junior Achievement of
Brazoria County, who
noted that the funds will
be used to buy program
materials. “This will
help us significantly in
preparing the workforce
of tomorrow by giving
these students an understanding of how business
operates today.”
Port Freeport Executive Port Director/CEO
A.J. “Pete” Reixach Jr. commented, “Port Freeport
has a history of making a concerted effort to assist
community organizations that focus on the children
of Brazoria County. We are pleased to extend this
commitment this year to Junior Achievement.”
In previous years, Port Freeport has played a
role in support of such organizations as the
Boys & Girls Club of Brazoria County, has
presented backpacks and school supplies to
local children and, each spring since 2001,
has sponsored the Take-A-Child Fishing
Tournament.
More than 100 golfers, most from the
F r e e p o r t
and Houston maritime
t r a n s p o r t a t i o n
industry, took part
in the benefit golf
tournament, held March 14 at the
Wilderness Golf Course in Lake Jackson. The
event was capped off with a crawfish boil dinner.
P O R T F R E E P O R T 9 D O C K S I D E
P O R T F R E E P O R T 10 D O C K S I D E

PORT FREEPORT NEWS
PORT FREEPORT NEWS
Employee Focus
TWIC
Krewe of Port Freeport
Dragados SPL Partnership
Westerlin joins port
as safety supervisor
Port Freeport area begins
TWIC Enrollment
‘Krewe of Port Freeport’ puts unique
twist on community outreach
Port Freeport to partner with Dragados
SPL on Velasco Terminal project
Ben Westerlin
Safety Supervisor
Since joining Port Freeport in
October in the newly created
position of safety supervisor, Ben
Westerlin has made significant
strides in further ensuring the
safety of employees of the port and
its tenants.
“Ben has been a great asset and
addition to the Port Freeport team,”
said Port Freeport Director of
Operations Al Durel. “He’s doing a
terrific job of promoting a portwide
safety culture.”
Even before joining the Port staff, Westerlin was familiar with
Port Freeport, having served the preceding year as security
manager at the Port for contracted provider Securitas Security
Services USA Inc.
Prior to that, he served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons expert, attaining the
rank of senior airman.
“My job is to put in place a general awareness and training
programs to heighten safety awareness so that everyone who
works at Port Freeport can go home to their families at the end
of their day here,” Westerlin said.
A native of Santa Fe, Texas, Westerlin is a graduate of Santa Fe
High School. He and high school sweetheart Kelly have been
married five years and just expanded their family with the birth
of their second daughter, Ella, whose big sister, Abigail, is 3.
Having previously taken classes at Alvin Community College
and College of the Mainland, Westerlin, 28, currently is working
toward his safety, health and environmental management degree
at Brazosport College.
When he’s not working, studying or spending time with his
family, Westerlin enjoys “gadgetry,” golf, rollerblading and
martial arts.
Enrollments in the federal Transportation
Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
program are proceeding smoothly for
Freeport area workers requiring
access to Maritime Transportation
Security Act (MTSA) regulated
facilities. Port Freeport is a MTSA
regulated facility, according to Rick
Benavidez, the Port’s security manager
and facility security officer.
The Freeport rollout of sign-ups for the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security’s Transportation Worker Identification
Credential program began May 1 at an off-port enrollment
center at Brazos Mall. The first seven weeks of the center
being open brought 1,122 enrollments, including those of 591
truck drivers whose work requires access to “secure” port areas,
Benavidez said.
The August 15, 2008 opening of a mobile center at Port Freeport
is anticipated to facilitate enrollments of about 350 Port and
tenant employees, he said.
“I’m impressed how things are going at the Freeport area
enrollment center,” Benavidez said. “We are very grateful for
the high level of cooperation we’ve been receiving from tenants
and, in particular, the truck drivers.”
Benavidez noted those seeking access to “secure” areas at Port
Freeport who do not possess a TWIC must be escorted by an
appropriate TWIC-carrying representative of the tenant firm
being visited. Port staff will not provide escorts.
Enrollments in the TWIC program began at the Port of
Wilmington, Del., in October 2007 and have been rolled out
incrementally at other ports across the nation. More than 1
million workers from throughout the country are anticipated to
sign up by the April 15, 2009, nationwide compliance date. The
compliance date had previously been announced for September
25, 2008 but federal officials have found TWIC program
implementation more demanding than initially perceived.
Federal officials are encouraging workers to pre-enroll online
at www.tsa.gov/twic to accelerate credentialing and schedule a
time to complete the application process in person.
The kind of “crews” typically associated with seaports are those
that work on docks or man vessels, but Port Freeport is putting
a new twist on this term, involving local community leaders on a
recently formed board known as the “Krewe of Port Freeport.”
The uniquely named port outreach entity is bringing together
a diverse range of area residents – from retirees to rice farmers
– for quarterly gatherings aimed at keeping the people of Brazoria
County aware of Port Freeport’s ever-expanding contributions
while gaining their valuable input.
“The Krewe of Port Freeport was formed as part of our ongoing
efforts to educate the public as to how Port Freeport is an asset
to Brazoria County, the state of Texas and the nation,” said
Executive Port Director/CEO A.J. “Pete” Reixach Jr., noting
the Port’s direct generation of more than 11,000 jobs and overall
$9 billion-a-year economic impact. “Our interactions help us to
work together to get the word out and at the same time, hear
what those throughout the community have to say.”
Reixach, who is originally from New Orleans, came up with the
notion of a “krewe” (pronounced the same as “crew”) because
of his familiarity with the krewes that play an integral role in
Mardi Gras events and charitable efforts.
Krewe member Curt Mowery, a principal of a family ricegrowing
business and mayor of the small north-central Brazoria
County city of Sandy Point, explained, “Since being part of
this committee, I have developed a greater appreciation for the
impact that Port Freeport has, not only with my industry but
also with fresh produce, the petrochemical industry and, the
new liquefied natural gas facility at the Port.”
Officials of Port Freeport are looking forward to partnering with
Madrid, Spain-based Dragados Servicios Portuarios y Logisticos
in development of the newest facility at Port Freeport.
Port Freeport has entered into negotiations with Dragados SPL
on a multi-decade contract for a public-partnership to develop
the Port’s Velasco Terminal, following unanimous approval by
the Port Commission.
“We are truly delighted to team up with such a widely known
and well-respected international player as Dragados SPL,” said
Port Freeport Executive Port Director/CEO A.J. “Pete” Reixach
Jr. “Together, we will bring the Texas Gulf Coast a premier
facility that represents our Port’s first major construction project
in more than a quarter century, as well as the entry of Dragados
into the U.S. port market.”
Dragados SPL is a significant force in terminal operations
and infrastructure development in Europe, China and South
America. Gina Wang, Madrid-based project development
manager for Dragados SPL, is equally enthused.
“We are very excited to soon be involved with Port Freeport
on the Velasco Terminal project,” Wang said. “Dragados is
the largest independent terminal operator in Spain and is also
actively pursuing new terminal projects worldwide.
“We see the Velasco Terminal as an excellent opportunity to enter
the U.S. market,” Wang said. “Now, we look forward to working
with Port Freeport officials and bringing success to the project.”
Port Freeport is currently investing $42 million in development
of the Velasco Terminal’s initial phase, to include an 800-footlong
berth. Upon full buildout, the $225 million facility, with
1,200 linear feet of berthing and 90 acres of developed backland,
is to have a capability to handle an annual throughput of more
than 750,000 twenty-foot-equivalent container units (TEUs).
P O R T F R E E P O R T 11 D O C K S I D E
P O R T F R E E P O R T 12 D O C K S I D E

PORT FREEPORT NEWS
Trade Development
Wurschy joins Port Freeport Team
Homeland Security
Port Freeport partners with police in
state homeland security grants efforts
Bringing more than 30 years
e x p e r i e n c e i n t h e m a r i n e
transportation industry, Peter
Wurschy recently accepted the
position of Trade Development
Representative for Port Freeport.
Peter Wurschy
Trade Development Representative
Wurschy is the Houston-based
sales representative for the Port
and responsible for calling customs
brokers, freight forwarders,
shippers, agents and carriers. His
years of experience in international
marine business, management,
sales and marketing, and an array
of numerous other job responsibilities make Wurschy a good
fit for the new position.
“I am extremely confident that I can make meaningful
contributions to Port Freeport’s growth aspirations as well as
serve the Port’s current clientele in a most professional and cost
effective manner,” said Wurschy. “Furthermore, I am extremely
excited about meeting the challenges ahead and working with
the Port Freeport staff in the spirit of one team – one goal.”
Born and raised in Germany, Wurschy immigrated with his
family to Connecticut while he was in high school. Upon
his arrival to the States, Wurschy completed his high school
education, and went on to study at the Merchant Marine
Academy and sailed in various deck officer capacities aboard
Gulf Oil Corporation’s Tanker Fleet prior to joining their
New York-based marine management staff. Wurschy also
served with the U.S. Navy and holds the rank of retired
lieutenant commander.
Wurschy and his wife of 40 years, Marieta, reside in Houston
and have one daughter, Christina.
Thanks to a group effort by Port Freeport, the Freeport Police
Department, State Representative Dennis Bonnen and the
state of Texas, Freeport PD has the potential to obtain funds
to purchase equipment.
Port Freeport worked closely with Rep. Dennis Bonnen and
his Austin office to coordinate a December meeting in which
representatives from Port Freeport and the Freeport PD met with
the Chief of Emergency Management Division for the state of
Texas Jack Colley, who is in charge of grant funds, to discuss
the need of equipment to help make the Freeport community
and local industries safer.
“The meeting with Jack Colley went well,” said Chief of Police
for Freeport Jeff Pynes. “Colley was very receptive of our needs
and appreciated the relationship that Port Freeport holds with
the Freeport Police Department.”
Port Freeport Security Manager Rick Benavidez, commented,
“The Freeport Police Department is the critical first responder to
the Port and other companies such as Freeport LNG, The Dow
Chemical Co., BASF etc. so it was imperative that they have
proper equipment. Everyone will benefit from this.”
“Although the Freeport Police Department has a great need the
assistance and support of Port Freeport helped make the meeting
with the state possible,” said Pynes. “We greatly appreciate Port
Freeport’s efforts.”
P O R T F R E E P O R T 13 D O C K S I D E

Port Freeport
200 West Second St., 3rd Floor
Freeport, Texas 77541