Port Director Bill Masters Announces Retirement Plans

After a waterfront career that spanned four decades, Port of Beaumont Port Director Bill Masters has decided to retire, effective at the end of July.

Masters, 64, announced his retirement plans at the regularly-scheduled meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the port today.

"This July, I will have had 35 years with the Port of Beaumont and 41 years on the Beaumont waterfront," Masters said in his statement to port commissioners. "I believe this will be an ideal time for me to retire and turn over my duties to a new director," he said.

Masters' retirement will bring to an end a career that will be difficult to duplicate in terms of longevity and port growth. He has presided over the largest expansion in the port's history and directed a major cargo diversification program that resulted in tremendous growth of port tonnage.

Masters grew up in East Texas and completed a degree in accounting from business college after serving in the Marine Corps. His career at the Port of Beaumont began in 1965, when he joined the port as assistant dock superintendent. Prior to that time, he worked on the waterfront for four years with a local stevedoring firm and two years with the U.S. Army Transportation Corps' Beaumont office.

Masters worked his way through the ranks of port administration, serving as dock superintendent, manager of marine terminals, deputy port director, secretary-treasurer to the board of commissioners and executive managing director before being appointed port director in 1986. In 1991, his peers recognized Masters' leadership and contributions to the maritime industry by electing him president of both the Gulf Ports Association and the Texas Ports Association. He was re-elected in 1999 to the board of directors of the American Association of Port Authorities, the industry trade association that represents 160 public ports in the United States, Canada and Latin America. He also serves on the AAPA's National Defense Committee.

Since Masters took over the helm of the port, tonnage has increased dramatically. In 1985, the port handled 451,000 tons of revenue cargo, and just over 2 million tons of total cargo. Under Masters' leadership, total cargo has grown to a high of 4.8 million tons in a single calendar year. Revenue tonnage has shown steady growth, topping the one million-ton mark for the first time in 1993 and exceeding one million tons every year since then.

Under Masters' direction, the Port of Beaumont expanded its cargo base to include new commodities such as forest products, iron and steel, aggregate, and bulk minerals while maintaining its share of "traditional" commodities, including bagged goods, military cargo, project cargo and bulk grain. This expansion has continued with the completion last year of a state-of-the-art rail-to-ship transfer facility to handle soda ash and other dry bulk materials.

The port has invested more than $60 million in infrastructure improvements during the 14 years since Masters became port director. His administration has seen development of new wharves and transit sheds, a new port administration building, grading and paving of numerous cargo storage lots, building demolition, improvements to communication and data processing equipment, riverbank stabilization, upgrades to roadways, railroad tracks and drainage, maintenance dredging and purchase of new equipment. The port's acreage has also grown dramatically since Masters became port director. A total of 27 acres has been added to the physical facilities of the port, mostly through acquisition of property on the south side of the port along Buford and Carroll streets. The largest single parcel was the 10½ acre site of a former federal housing project that was acquired after several years of negotiations with local and national government. In addition, more than 100 acres of property in Orange county on the East bank of the river were removed from a government easement and opened to future development. The largest capital expansion program in the port's history is now underway, with all projects expected to be completed by March of the year 2001. Work began in January on the last major contract, a 680-foot extension of Harbor Island Wharf. Construction also began this month on the final phase of the grain elevator improvement project, which is designed to make the port's 3.5 million-bushel export grain elevator more efficient.

Under his direction, the port entered the modern computer age and established a presence in cyberspace with the creation of an Internet Website that has received an international recognition from the American Association of Port Authorities. Masters also recently completed the negotiation of a new lease agreement that will ensure continued operation of the port's grain elevator. In late December, Louis Dreyfus Corp. assumed the lease of the facility and recently loaded its first cargo of bulk grain. The elevator is expected to handle about 1 ½ million tons of grain in the next 12 months.

For more information, contact Bill Masters, 409/835-5367