In honor of Veterans Day, Lieutenant Commander Ethan Lewallen spoke to us last Wednesday about the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit in Port Arthur, TX. He shared with us that the Coast Guard is one of the six armed forces of the United States, and while the other five are under the authority of the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard is under the Department of Homeland Defense. He also pointed out that it is the oldest, continuous seagoing service.

 

The Coast Guard has 11 statutory missions and is responsible for 95,000 miles of shoreline and 3.5 million square miles of Exclusive Economic Zone which extends from the US shoreline out two hundred miles. He also pointed out that one of every six jobs is marine-related, and more than one-third of the gross national product originates in coastal areas. Maritime transportation is responsible for more than 90% of the world’s trade, carries 78% of all US international trade, and transports 66% of all crude oil.

 

He said that the Coast Guard is always ready to provide maritime safety, security, and stewardship through its 11 statutory missions. The missions are as follows:

The Marine Safety Unit in Port Arthur has 93 active-duty personnel, 25 reservists, 44 civilians and 12 auxiliary personnel. It is responsible for an area of 16,200 square miles – from the Oklahoma border to 200 miles offshore and 60 miles east of Lake Charles to High Island. This covers 76 nautical miles of the Sabine-Neches ship channel and 68nautical miles of the Calcasieu River ship channel.

 

Within this area are 161 waterfront facilities, seven refineries (three are the largest of the top five in the nation), two Strategic Petroleum Reserves with 54% of the nation’s capacity, four LNG terminals and two military offloading ports – Beaumont and Port Arthur.

 

The area is the nation’s #1 crude oil destination port – 14.7% of US total. It is also the nation’s #1 refiner of jet fuel and most of the military jet fuel. It is the nation’s third busiest petrochemical port, by tonnage, and it refines a minimum of 13% of America’s daily fuel consumption. Beaumont ranks number 5 in the nation in total tonnage and Port Arthur ranks 19^th.

 

Total vessel transits that occurred in 2020 in the Marine Safety Unit’s area of responsibility was 54,214. On a typical day there are 148.5 vessels that travel in their waterways. If an incident occurs that closes the Sabine-Neches waterway, the local impact cost is over $200 million per day.

 

The energy sector is experiencing tremendous growth in our area. Sixty-four billion dollars of industry expansion and new construction has been announced for the Sabine-Neches waterway and $92 billion of industry expansion and new construction has been announced along the Calcasieu ship channel.

 

Finally, Lt. Commander Lewallen mentioned that the Coast Guard does all of this in partnership with numerous other law enforcement agencies and government agencies.

 

 

photos by Kevin Reed