At Port of Houston, Jobs Debate Centers on Truck Loads
Here's the current workflow in the Port of Houston: Freight comes in. It’s transported by truck to nearby warehouses. And then it’s put on other trucks and shipped across the country.
But in Houston, if the freight coming off the boat weighs more than 80,000 pounds, it has to be broken into separate loads for that short trek to a warehouse — often about five miles.
Audio: Ben Philpott's story for KUT News
Jim Henderson and others who run some of those warehouses and short-haul trucks told lawmakers Monday that they want the 80,000-pound limit ...
Comments (3)
Jim Ward
For several years, I sold imported steel pipe that came in through the Port of Houston. As many as 50 trucks would line up and "catch" the lifts of pipe (2,000 lbs ea) as they came off the boat. The pipe was then hauled to a sorting yard nearby. It was not uncommon for a truck to have 100,000 lbs total wt, as the goal was to get the ship unloaded, but also to maximize the revenue for the haulers. This sometimes resulted in tires being blown out, and stalls on the roadway (610). Without a scale crossing before leaving the dock, there is no way to control the load limit. (The load is weighed when entering the sorting yard). A one time pass of a massive load, such as the 1.7 million lbs., is one thing, and it is something else to have thousands of loads traveling the same roadways at 100,000#. As a weekly business traveler on the roadways of TX, it is clear to me that trucks do the most damage, even at the current weight. The summer heat and number of loads distort the asphalt surface, and in places, even rumple the road base. No thanks to increases. We are getting all we can stand now.
BiffTannen
Look at the roads in the Barnett Shale that handle the hundreds of trucks to service a well site. Especially the water trucks. Tell me that trucks heavier than the current 80,000 pound limit won't do more damage. More weight, more damage and the faster the road surface deterioration, period. Raise the road taxes on the shipping companies trucks to pay for the more frequent repairs. They already get away with destroying public roads and private property without paying for what they damage.
Robert Peters
Thought we are going to create more jobs in this country by manufacturing it here. Why then worry about raising the weight limit on those foreign imports. As president of a heavy haul trucking company I can tell you that those port truck weighing 100,000 lb gross do not have the proper number of axles nor are they spaced correctly, Thousands of loads like that do tear up the roads.