MASSIVE SUPERTANKERS MAKE PRESENCE AT PORT OF TEXAS CITY

By: Brandon Williams
ONE OF THE CHALLENGES I made for myself entering 2019 was to branch out of sports in order to give myself new horizons and more reasons to push my fingers to the brink of carpal tunnel syndrome. (No, folks. Not to worry. I’ll still be covering sports, so those who might have thought a retirement column was incoming can catch your breath). My first challenge came on Friday, as I was able to watch the Very Large Crude Container (VLCC for short, supertanker in layman’s terms) Farhah depart from the Port of Texas City. Having been born and raised in the area while spending much of the last 15 years as a local (sports)writer of sorts, there should be a little shock this marked the first time I had been to the Port. Thanks to a newfound relationship with The Post Newspaper and the Port (huge assist to acting Port Vice-President Jason Haley), I received an invitation to watch the Farhah leave the Enterprise Products Partners terminal. While it wasn’t on my bucket list, viewing a 162,863-ton VLCC make its way into the Gulf of Mexico was a very enlightening experience. This is a great time for the Port of Texas City, which accepted its first VLCC this past June. Friday marked the sixth VLCC that left the Port, continuing what will become a trend. “I didn’t expect to see them coming this often, but it’s great to start something new,” said Beau Cyr, the harbormaster (and fellow La Marque High School graduate). The supertankers, which are more than 1,100 feet long (think 8.5 football fields), require a significant number of procedures between its arrival and departure. It is a process that I will follow up on in Wednesday’s edition, as an attempt to contact Enterprise’s public relations staff proved unsuccessful against the looming cloud of print deadline. Rather than make my first challenge a regrettable one because I didn’t have the correct information is why this is more of a column instead of a news story. However, the point being is that there are a lot of exciting things that are going on at the Port of Texas City, and The Post Newspaper is committed to sharing the news that the dedicated employees are generating on a daily basis. Their stories deserve to be told, and it is a task I am excited to be a part of. Again, thanks to Jason, Beau and the rest of the Port of Texas City for giving me an opportunity to come out. I look forward to many a return visit in 2019.