General

The two public container terminals under the Port of Houston were closed at noon on the same day due to a "hardware failure" in the operating system that began on Tuesday morning local time in the United States.

The Port of Houston Authority made it clear in a statement on the 28th local time that the incident has nothing to do with cyber attacks and is working to restore the system as soon as possible. However, its two container terminals, Barbours Cut and Bayport, are not expected to continue operations that day or night.

Roger Guenther, the executive director of the port, explained the situation in a letter to customers and stakeholders. “Yesterday, before the truck gate opened normally at 7 am, the storage equipment used to support the operation of all applications at the two container terminals of Barbours Cut and Bayport suffered a major failure. Our staff responded immediately and changed the application and Relevant data was migrated to a set of redundant storage devices, and the terminal was running again before 10:00 a.m. Unfortunately, the redundant storage device failed again at 12:00 noon, and the terminal system was unable to process any transactions since then. I I want to make it clear that this is not a cyber attack on the Port of Houston operating system." Guenther said.

Ships that are already in the process of loading and unloading can continue to work. However, because the truck gate facilities at the two container terminals are still idle and unable to work, it is "impossible" to operate new ships.

The official Twitter of the Port of Houston stated that the Bayport and Barbours Cut terminals were still closed on Thursday morning.

Guenther said that the terminal now has the necessary hardware, but getting the equipment back up is another matter. The configuration and restoration of all the components involved is a slow process. "Frankly, I am not optimistic about the prospects of reopening operations." Guenther said.

Guenther said that once the system is restored, the port plans to extend the arrival time every day and weekend arrival time. "In addition, all available resources will be provided to continue ship operations."

The Houston Waterway is the main channel for oil, natural gas and chemical production in the United States. This 52-mile-long waterway is composed of more than 200 private docks and 8 public docks. Currently these problems have no impact on shipping channels, adding that the problems are limited to two public container terminals. It is also emphasized that the hardware failure is not caused by a network attack.

The Port of Houston is the largest port on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the largest port in Texas, and the only port in Houston; the Port of Houston is known as the second international commercial port in the United States, with a cargo throughput of more than 200 million tons, and is also the second largest in the United States and sixth in the world. Energy and commercial ports, there are nearly 100 fixed routes connecting more than 250 ports in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. At the same time, the Port of Houston is also the sixth busiest container port in the United States. Last year’s total throughput was 2,989,300 TEU. The port provided employment opportunities for 3.2 million people, including two container terminals. It is the largest petrochemical production base in the United States. The traded commodities are petroleum and petroleum products.

The Bayport and Barbours Cut container terminals under the Port of Houston handle approximately two-thirds of the container cargo in the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. It is also an important breakbulk port in the U.S., and it is responsible for 41% of the project logistics of Gulf Coast ports. Like other container ports across the country, since the rebound in the COVID-19 pandemic, the port's imports have continued to surge. As of June this year, the Port of Houston recorded 1,607,79 TEU of containers, an increase of 13% over last year.