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Business View Magazine
ton, some 50miles away), making Galveston the 4th bus-
iest cruise port in the U.S. with respect to embarkations.
“The Port of Galveston’s niche is those cargoes that are
operating on a schedule. Some examples are the cruise
ships,” says Mierzwa. “They have to get into port, disem-
bark 3500 to 4600 passengers starting around 7:00 AM,
and load up again and be out of the port by 4:30 or 5:00
PM at the latest. So they have a nine to ten hour turn-
around. The beauty about the Port of Galveston is that
it’s only about 45 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Port’s docks. A ship leaving from Houston will need an
extra 2-2½ hours.”
Those cruise ships and their passengers are another
important component of the Port’s business. “We make
money through our agreements with the cruise lines
based upon the number of passengers on and off these
cruise ships, or as we like to say, ‘It’s cargo that talks
to you.’ Another considerable part of the revenue related
to the cruise industry is that we provide parking for the
cruise ship passengers. We have a very heavy ‘drive-up’
market. Most of our passengers drive to Galveston to go
on a cruise, so we charge people to park their cars for
either the full four, five, or seven days of the cruise they
go on. That is approximately 18 percent of our revenues.”
Other customers, such as those with perishable cargo,
like Del Monte, whose ships pick up fresh fruit such as
bananas, melons, and pineapples from Guatemala, or
those with what is known as ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) cargo,
which is cargo that’s on wheels, such as construction
equipment, farm equipment, and new automobiles, also
benefit from Galveston’s closeness to the Gulf of Mexico.
“The ships that carry ro-ro cargo are on a milk run,” says
Mierzwa. “They will come to Galveston, offload a portion
of the cargo that they have on the ship here, and may
take some cargo to move, either to another port or over-
seas, then leave here and maybe go to Jacksonville and
