DHS Delivers Security Funding for Port Authority; Earmarked Funds Total Nearly $7 Million.

Business Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2003

The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) will receive $2.54 million of the $170 million allocation in Round 2 port security grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Additionally, the PHA will receive a $4.37 million grant from the Office of Domestic Preparedness. The PHA had applied for approximately $13 million in port security grant funds for a cohesive security program involving surveillance, technology, infrastructure, personnel training, rapid response, and communications equipment to secure the port.

"The announcement of these grant funds is great news not only for the Port Authority but the entire Houston region," stated Jim Edmonds, PHA chairman. "These grant funds will be put to good use to ensure safety and security at the port and protect the free flow of trade through our facilities."

Edmonds added, "The Port Authority is fortunate to have friends like Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Tom DeLay, Congressman Gene Green, Congressman Kevin Brady, Congressman Chris Bell, Congressman John Culberson, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, Congressman Nick Lampson, Congressman John Carter and rest of our Texas delegation on Capitol Hill. I commend our congressional leaders as well as Port Captain Kevin Cook of the U.S. Coast Guard for their outstanding efforts to raise the importance of port security as a national priority."

The exact projects that will be funded by the grants have not been announced. The PHA, however, expects funding to be earmarked for such initiatives as closed-circuit television cameras, gate access controls, fencing, and high-tech communication and monitoring devices. The new grants will expand PHA's security capabilities and complement the $1.8 million grant the Port Authority received in 2002.

With the bi-partisan support of the Texas congressional delegation, Congress earlier this year approved $628 million for the U.S. Coast Guard, $170 million for more personnel at maritime entry points, $90 million for port radiation detection and monitoring, $35 million for the Container Security Initiative, $170 million for TSA Port Security Grants, $58 million for Operation Safe Commerce Pilot Projects, and $75 million for Office of Domestic Preparedness Port Security Grants.

About the Port of Houston Authority

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.