1982-03-24 Joint Public Hearing and Special Called Meeting

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• • • Minutes, Joint Public Hearing and Special Called Meeting La Porte City Council, March 24, 1982, Page 3 in containers, seem to be not nearly at an equalibrium. Do you really think the demand is greater than the supply in this area? Or are we going to be faced with some yards operating on a marginal basis? Not able to keep their prop- erties up to full capacities and in nice shape because of red ink. Smit: I surely wouldn't think so. You know they are building terminal number four now. There was a big article in the Houston Business Journal last week about what they intend to do down there. Instead of stopping with terminal number four they are going to complete number five and six. They really have a need for it. Now, if we really had our preference, the big steamship lines would be terminating the containers in Barbour's Cut and somehow getting .them up to Houston where suppliers would be picking them up. That can't always go .that way. From everything the companies that I deal with, some of the companies and some major steamship lines, they can't possibly do that. All the big companies are here. Like my property inside the port, I worked many vessels inside the port. P7e no longer do that because all the big vessels • no longer carry containers up there. Many of the smaller companies would like to be here, but we don't have the berthing room for them. Latimer: I believe we have two container yards under construc- tioT n right now, and yours is going to be a third one. You feel like there is going to be that much demand in the future? Smit: Well, everything that I see. I go according to what the port tells me, and they say the need is here. For one thing, they don't want the empty containers in the gates of the port. Westergren: You're in the empty container business? Smit: Yes. Westergren: You don't have any -------- or anything like that? Just empty containers? Smit: Yes. Meza: Is there any input from the public? Faulkner: If this gentleman brings in 120 employees, what is • the average wage scale in this type of business?