GULF INTRACOASTAL CANAL ASSOCIATION MARKS
100TH ANNIVERSARY WITH CONVENTION IN FOUNDING CITY
FRIENDSWOOD , TEXAS, July 8, 2005 – The Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) will meet August 8-10 in Victoria, Texas, for its 100 th Annual Convention. The group, representing coastal marine interests of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, has met in several Gulf Coast cities over its 100-year history, but overwhelmingly selected Victoria, the birthplace of the association in 1905, for this milestone occasion.
The convention will begin Monday, August 8 with a golf tournament and awards dinner. Tom Kornegay, executive director of the Port of Houston Authority, and Rep. Ron Paul will be featured speakers at the evening banquet. Tuesday’s agenda includes presentations by Cols. Steve Haustein, Richard Wagenaar and Pete Taylor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a presentation by Adm. Robert Duncan of the Eighth Coast Guard District. A panel discussion concerning trends in the shallow draft industry will also be held, featuring Dr. David Allen, of the University of Texas, Air Quality; Ron Coles, of the Coalition of Alabama Waterway Associations; Berdon Lawrence, chairman of the board, Kirby Corporation; Michael Behrens, executive director, Texas Department of Transportation; and Homer Hirt, transportation consultant. Sessions will conclude Wednesday with a tour of recently expanded facilities at the Port of Victoria.
The GICA held its first annual convention August 8, 1905 in Victoria, Texas, to promote the idea of a single channel connecting all major Gulf Coast ports. Frustrated with the fragmented approach taken by Congress, businessmen in Victoria, led by Clarence Holland, issued a call in newspapers throughout Louisiana and Texas for a convention to discuss “the feasibility, plans and final construction of an intercoastal canal from Brownsville, Texas to Donaldsonville, Louisiana,” and “urged every board of trade, chamber of commerce and businessmen’s organization” in both states to send delegates. More than 200 convened at the Victoria Opera House to answer the call, and the Interstate Waterway League (later renamed the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association) was born. Forty-four years later, in 1949, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was completed, providing continuous protected passage from the southern tip of Texas to the western Florida coast.
Today, the GICA exists to ensure the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is maintained, operated and improved to provide the safest, most efficient, economical and environmentally-sound water transportation route in the nation. In 2003, that route provided safe passage for more than 118 million tons of freight – far more than the 12 million tons projected in the 1920s as representative of future potential (and serving as justification for completing the project).
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For further information, contact:
Raymond Butler, Executive Director
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Association
Ph: 281.996.6915 / Fax: 281.992.4383
E-mail: info@gicaonline.com
Web: www.gicaonline.com
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