Port of Galveston dredges up silver lining

By Laura Elder
The Daily News
Published September 12, 2005

Upside of chaos: Some island officials may still be fuming over the federal government’s on-again, off-again plan to deliver more than 4,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees to Galveston, but port officials see a $300,000 upside.

Last week, the city and port raced to prepare for evacuees to board two Carnival cruise ships that federal officials had chartered to provide temporary housing for Katrina evacuees. The cruise ships Ecstasy and Sensation, federal officials said, would be docked in Galveston for six months or more in relief efforts. The ships would berth at Piers 37, 40 and 41, an industrial part of the port’s west end. A third cruise ship would dock in Mobile, Ala. FEMA agreed to pay Carnival Corp. $236 million to charter the ships for half a year.

But the area had to be cleared of silt to give the liners the necessary 35-foot draft.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stepped up, modifying a contract with Lake Charles, La.-based Mike Hooks Inc., to get the job done in a matter of days. The work would have cost the Port of Galveston more than $300,000, but the federal government is picking up the tab.

But last week, water-shy Katrina evacuees flatly rejected the idea of boarding the ships on an island vulnerable to hurricanes.

With no takers for the floating shelters, FEMA said it would offer the luxury liners as temporary housing elsewhere, either for more Katrina victims or relief workers and their families.

Meanwhile, city officials, who scrambled to provide services to the cruise ships, last week said they were so frustrated by FEMA’s handling of the situation, they would write President Bush.

While the cruise ships won’t use the newly dredged space, other vessels would, Port Director Steve Cernak said.

“Dredging is not cheap; it’s the one positive in this story.”