Matt Thompson - Port Tampa Bay Hurricane Prep

Port Tampa Bay is holding its annual hurricane preparedness exercise Monday, May 1st. We speak with Vice President of Operations Matt Thompson about what goes on in such an exercise and how the port prepares for big storms. Port Tampa Bay accounts for 45 percent of gasoline brought into Florida.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. As the rest of us are,
or as we should be, PortTampa Bay is getting ready for hurricane season.
Now, when you think of theport, you may think of going
on a cruise, but there isof course a lot more that gets affected
than that when there's a hurricane inthe Gulf. Port Tampa Bay is holding
its annual Hurricane Exercise Monday, Mayfirst, from eight thirty in the morning

(00:24):
to eleven thirty in the morning.Matt Thompson is vice president of Operations for
Port Tampa Bay and he joins uson Beyond the News. Welcome in,
sir, Thank you Gordon, andit's great to be with you today and
talk about this important topic of preparingfor a hurricane season here in Tampa Bay.
Now, let's first talk about thisexercise. You have a lot of

(00:45):
agencies and partners and your partners inthe maritime industry involved. What do you
cover in this exercise? Yes,absolutely, And as I talk about that,
I think kind of talking in generalas well about how the port prepares
for the storms. But typically PortTampa Bay is working very closely with all

(01:07):
federal, state, local agencies,the maritime community, shippers those folks that
own facilities, fuel, all youknow, containers, all the different types
of cargoes that come into our eighteenbillion dollars a year port here in Tampa
Bay. So the exercise is veryimportant for us to sort of get everyone
on the same page. And Ithink if there were sort of three watchwords

(01:32):
that relate to the exercise, itwould be readiness, communications, and partnerships.
Those are three important aspects as aswe kick off the exercise. Other
things that we'll talk about this isin the realm of partnerships are Heavy Weather
Advisory Group, which is a groupmade up of pilots, industry folks,

(01:53):
the port, the Coastguard, andothers that helps to provide input to the
Coastguard as they make decisions on portconditions and hurricane conditions and whether or not
eventually they have to close the porthere due to storms and such. Additionally,
work closely with Noah and the ArmyCorps who assist with the Coastguard and

(02:16):
also Port Tampa Bay with some ofour resources after the storm to make sure
that the channels are clear and there'sno submerged objects or things that would disrupt
shipping before the ships are allowed tobe brought in, so that's covered during
the exercise. Then another key partnershipthat we have is with the National Weather
Service and Ruskin, And I'll justsay that all through the year and especially

(02:42):
during hurricane season, the National WeatherService and Ruskin is providing the port and
the maritime community just outstanding information tohelp us make our operational decisions every day,
and when a storm does come,they are providing us tracking and all
the different things that we need andthe Coastguard needs to eventually make their decisions
on the port. And during thisexercise, the National Weather Service will be

(03:07):
present and they're going to run througha scenario and as we do that,
each of the entities that are present. We anticipate having about one hundred and
thirty people as part of the exercise, but each of the entities present will
then sort of comment on what theywould be doing in various stages of preparation
and then you know what would happenwhen the storm actually comes and such.

(03:30):
So, so I think that's agood overview of what the exercise will entail.
A lot involved there. We arespeaking with Matt Thompson. He is
vice president of Operations for Port TampaBay in Tampa. Now, let's talk
about the role that Port Tampa Bayand other ports such as Port Everglades in
Broward County play in bringing in supplies, especially fuel, to Florida, and

(03:53):
how a hurricane affects that. Infact, we saw a scenario, sort
of a mini scenario play out earlierthis year when the spring flooding in Broward
County shut down Port Everglades and theimpact that that has had on gas prices.
The ports of Florida, including PortTampa Bay, really are our choke
points for gasoline coming into our state, aren't they? Absolutely? Gordon and

(04:16):
Port Tampa Bay. As we're preparingfor a storm, we initiate what we
call our Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan,and that helps us to really start preparing
and reaching out to those tenant agency. You know, the agency is the
tenant facilities that are on Port Tampa. You know, our facility is five

(04:40):
thousand acres, but there's a lotof different companies on their fuel farms and
such as you mentioned fuel storage facilities. So as the storm starts to come,
two of the biggest things I wouldsay are on my mind or how
much fuel do we have here inTampa and that's something that we work closely
with each of the companies to seesort of where they stand with their tanks

(05:02):
and things like that, and alsoworking with the Weather Service on any storm
surge predictions, which are always abig concern in the Tampa area in western
Florida, and Port Tampa Bay,as you mentioned, takes about forty five
of Florida's fuel in from the Gulfeach year, and really that's what's consumed

(05:25):
here in the state, with PortEverglades being the other port that receives,
you know, just under half ofFlorida's fuel. So between those two locations,
it's very important too that we kindof collaborate working with the State of
Florida. Just this week, laterin the week is FDOT Florida Department Transportation

(05:47):
is doing a fuel resiliency conference andboth Port Everglades and Port Tampa will participate
in that and just dialoguing as astorm season comes in. Obviously, as
you alluded to right there, theState of Florida and the federal government as
well both know how important Port TampaBay and other ports are to hurricane preparedness

(06:10):
and to recovery. What's their rolein helping out when there's a storm or
other situation that shuts down or causessome disruption in port operations. I know
the Coastguard has this countdown of youknow, when conditions require you to shut
down the port, and you know, if you're involved, even if there's
minimal damage, there's going to bea time of a day or maybe two

(06:32):
when the port is going to beout of action. And yes, Gordon,
that that's the case. The Coastguardas one of the main federal agencies
that we are working with during astorm. Other ones could be FEMA potentially
after the storm, as well asNOAH and the Army Corps, but the
Coastguard, as a storm system isapproaching our area that will set the port

(06:57):
conditions from portition normal, which we'rein right now, all the way Whiskey
at seventy two hours, x Rayat forty eight hours, Yankee at twenty
four hours, and the Zulu istwelve hours before gale force wins would impact
our area. And really during thoseduring those preparatory conditions, what's happening in

(07:21):
the port are things are being poorand the various facilities that make up the
port things are being secured to keepthem from you know, becoming hazards and
blowing around. We address how highwe stack containers, for example. During
that time, we're meeting closely withthe port Heavy Weather Advisory Group, starting

(07:42):
to gear up on what the nextsteps and stages might be. In poor
condition x ray, those vessels thatare greater than five hundred gross tons start
engaging with the port and the Coastguardon potentially having to leave the port if
the storm does further approach, becausethose vessels that carry large amounts of fuel

(08:05):
and things like that, the coastGuard prefers that they move offshore where they
can be safer and not potentially causea disruption or an environmental catastrophe within the
port if they get damaged. Here. Then in Yankee, which is the
period of twenty four hours out,at that point, it's almost no vessels
are coming in. The bridges arestarting to get locked in place, draw

(08:28):
bridges and things like that, andthe vessels that are over five hundred growth
tones are sort of making their finalpreps to depart by the time Zulu is
set, And at that point we'rereally kind of hunkered down and you know,
set up our watch positions and ourduty rotations and preparing for our push

(08:52):
teams, which are assessment teams thatwould come into the port after the storm
has passed and considered safe. Thepush teams would come into the port make
make the assessment, determine if whatdamaged there are as well as the tenants
would come in and start working closelyto get those things back online. A
key aspect of that is working withTampa Electric Company TICO to ensure that the

(09:18):
facilities have fuel and such that theycould basically get back to the roads cleared
and get back to truck loading truck'sloading fuel as soon as possible. Now,
from your experience with that in yourroles with Port Tampa Bay over the
years, we've had a couple ofoccasions where you've had to take down operations

(09:43):
with a storm approaching, as I'msure was the case with Ian last year
and ARM a few years before that, I'd take it generally the state has
been pretty quick in turning around andresponding and having the people in play with
the as you mentioned their push teamsso that they can get things up and

(10:03):
running as quickly as possible after astorm. Absolutely, and here in the
Tampa area we have the EOC fromthe city of Tampa. Also the EOC
or Emergency Operations Center from Hillsborough County, and we will have liaisons in the
State Operations Center or EOC UP inTallahassee as well. So I know the

(10:26):
Coast Guard has representatives up there aswell as the port is very connected.
Our external affairs such as government affairsand public affairs are really answering those questions
and providing that data back and forthwith the state as far as anything that
we need, information that elected officialshave or the media or you know,

(10:50):
when we might reopen various facilities andthings like that. So we are we're
in very close coordination with them.And you know, the state has always
provided excellent service as well as thecounty and city. And when you look
at what port, what a placelike Port Tampa Bay brings, I mean
really on the west central Florida.UM, you know, the port is

(11:11):
really one of the biggest economic drivershere. And once a storm does pass,
hopefully not with a big storm surgeor damage, but but once it
does pass and we can get businessback open again, you know, getting
those fuel trucks flowing again. Italso provides an opportunity for important cargoes,

(11:31):
which from all the time for constructionmaterial you know, steel, aluminum,
various other construction materials, breakball goods, continualize goods, and really all those
things become even more important after thestorm to have a place where those things
can be brought in and distributed andyou know, to get get into those

(11:52):
that need them after the storm.And I know we had some things lumber,
some other supplies that came into theport after the Hurricane Ian hit down
in Fort Myers and Port Charlotte's andNaples and such. So you know,
the port can really be a sortof a hub of resiliency to get back

(12:15):
those supplies into the area and tothose in need. And I know you're
proud of the role of Port TampaBay and its associated partners play in that.
The rule of thumb, I guessif you are a driver and you're
there's a hurricane expected to reach orcome close to Port Tampa Bay or Port
Everglades within a particular period of time, that if one or both of those

(12:41):
ports is affected, I assume youcan expect at least a couple or three
days of short supplies, and youmight want to plan accordingly. Yes,
absolutely, And even though in thiscase last year where Hurricane Ian again you
know, terrible storm down there andthe Fort Myers area, but initially it

(13:03):
was it was tracking up this way, so obviously we were watching it very
closely. And even though we didthe best we could to keep the poor
open as long as possible, keepall the facilities running, there are were
still some periods of gas stations thatwere out of fuel and such as you
can imagine when a storm is approaching, most folks are probably taking on them

(13:26):
and buying more fuel than they everdo normally, so that can also kind
of lead to that. But ourgoals to try to get things back turned
on as soon as possible and getthose stations that the fuel that they need
to provide the citizens. And I'msure it's a discussion that you have a
lot with weather officials and others aboutthat famed worst case scenario for Tampa Bay,

(13:50):
in which the there's a storm thatcomes close, that passes maybe to
the north of Tampa and pushes waterup into the bay and you experience storm
surge. And I'm sure that that'sgot to be your greatest concern, your
worst case scenario when we're talking abouta hurricane affecting the port absolutely, Gordon,
and I know the National Weather Servicehas a storm that they it's a

(14:16):
simulated storm that can be easily searchedonline called the Phoenix, and that is
exactly the scenario that you're talking about, where a system will push all that
water up into Tampa, and Tampakind of act as a bowl and collect
the water and create that that bigstorm surge, which so obviously we're watching

(14:37):
that, we're assessing each time asystem is coming our way, what the
storm surge is, what the predictionsare, and things of that nature.
But that obviously that's something that weighsheavily on our minds. And interestingly,
in the when Hurricane Ian came,and I'm sure many of your listeners probably

(14:58):
saw this, but there was soof an opposite effect where the allot of
the water got emptied out from variousparts of the bay over there, you
know, Bay Shore and some otherareas. So it's kind of interesting to
that folks saw all that dry landbefore the bay filled back in. But
whether it's the surge or or thewater being sucked out, I mean,

(15:22):
you know, everyone, everyone shouldreally just kind of take key to what
the local officials and federal officials aretelling them as far as safety, not
not getting out, not taking alook around in the middle of storm,
and stuff like that. Matt Thompsonhis vice president of operations for Port Tampa
Bay. They're having their annual hurricaneexercise Monday, the first of May,

(15:43):
from eight thirty to eleven thirty inthe morning. Matt Thompson, thank you
very much for joining us on Beyondthe News all right, nice to be
with you. Gordon, thank you.