STiR coffee and tea magazine

14 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2017 (October / November) Photo courtesy Port Houston Houston after Harvey NEWS H urricane Harvey dumped 50 inches (127 cm) of rain on Houston, Texas, in late August but the catastrophic storm, which will cost an estimated $160 billion, did not dampen the regional coffee industry. Reports from Port Houston, the local port authority, and area coffee warehouses indicate the import supply chain slowed but there was no significant damage to inventory. Flooding swept across much of Houston and Harris County after the Category 4 hurricane made landfall near Rockport on Aug. 25. The storm stalled before going back to sea. It then made a second landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, five days later. Harvey's slow movement resulted in record-setting rainfall. Harris County flood control district officials estimated one trillion gallons of water fell in four days. Port Houston shut down, in part, because roads throughout the metro area became impassible for trucks hauling cargo. Port employees and longshoremen were not only preoccupied with protecting their own families and homes, they couldn't get to work due to road closures. Bill Diehl, executive director of the Greater Houston Coffee Association, said that "unlike a normal hurricane with the storm surge doing damage, this was a rain event. The issue here was the workers. People were flooded [out of their homes]. The [coffee] industry side has fared well but the personnel side has taken the hit. It will take a while to recover." Once the rains stopped and floodwaters began to subside, cargo started to move. "We opened again [on Sept. 1] and we were expecting a huge surge of trucks coming in," said Ricardo Arias, trade development manager for Port Houston. "But because so many trucking companies lost trucks or had no drivers, we did not receive as many trucks as we were expecting." Within a week, the port's container backlog was nearly cleared. Both Diehl and Arias said no storm or water damage was reported to any containers at the port. "I came back to the building and went up to the roof because I wanted to get a look at the docks but I didn't see any debris," Diehl said. "The water simply flushed out." Port Houston There are two container terminals at Port Houston ― Barbours Cut and Bayport. Both are located east of Houston off Galveston Bay. An estimated 2.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot container equivalents) passed through the port in 2016 and about 142,000 TEUs, or 6.5 %, are coffee imports. Dock support is provided by the International Longshoremen's Association. By Dan Shryock Houston flooded following an unprecedented 50 inches of rain Port Houston facilities escaped damage

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