Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations
Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations
A New Captain Takes Command of TTI's Center for Ports and Waterways
Established in 1995 by the Texas Legislature, TTI's Center for Ports and Waterways (CPW) provides valuable applied research and expertise to the Texas Marine Transportation System. Over the past 30 years, CPW's experts have helped public- and private-sector stakeholders improve the efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness of waterborne freight at all operational levels. Recently, TTI Senior Research Scientist Jim Kruse, who led the center for 23 years, announced his retirement from TTI. To succeed him as director, the Institute named Vince Mantero, formerly director of the Office of Ports and Waterways Planning in the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration. Mantero brings to the job more than 25 years of experience in maritime and freight policy, planning and program management. Allan sits down with the CPW's captains, past and present, to discuss the transition, the importance of waterborne freight in the twenty-first century, and what lies ahead in the area of waterways research. | See the related story on the change in leadership
Howdy, everyone. Welcome to Thinking Transportation. Conversations about how we get ourselves and the stuff we need from one place to another. I'm Allan Rutter with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Allan Rutter:One quirk about the English language is that one word can have different meanings. The word ship, as a verb, means to send something somewhere else. As a noun, it means a vessel larger than a boat. Port can mean one of those slots or openings on your computer. It can mean a dark red, sweet wine. And it can mean a harbor where ships load and unload. Today, we'll be talking to two of my colleagues that know all about ships and ports and freight, as our Center for Ports and Waterways is transitioning to new leadership.
Allan Rutter:So in 1995, the Texas legislature created the Center for Ports and Waterways at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to conduct benefits-oriented research for the maritime industry. For the past 23 years, the center, which we'll refer to as CPW, has been led by Jim Kruse, who's been a frequent guest on this podcast. Effective September 8th, 2025, TTI has named Vince Mantero, the new director of the center. With more than 25 years of experience in maritime and freight policy, planning and program management, Mantero joins TTI from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, where he served as director of the Office of Ports and Waterways Planning. So today we're pleased to commemorate the passing of the CPW baton by talking to both of these very impressive gentlemen. Welcome to you both.
Jim Kruse:Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Vince Mantero:Thank you, Allan. Pleasure.
Allan Rutter:So to get started, let's talk a little bit about how you came to be attracted to maritime issues. Jim, before you came to TTI, you had been a director of the Port of Brownsville. What was your journey into the world of ports and ships?
Jim Kruse:I tell people I came in through the back door. I went to the Port of Brownsville initially to be the director of administration. A few months after I started, the commission had a problem with the port director and they asked him to leave. They came to me and said, Would you be willing to try this job as an interim CEO? And I said, Sure, why not? And six months later, they did a full search and named me the permanent CEO of the Port of Brownsville. So I tell people I came in through the back door by doing that. But once I got started, I found out it's just an interesting industry. So many things going on, people from all over the world. There's never any shortage of things to study and learn about. So it was very fascinating. And when I left the port, I did a little bit of consulting work for Foster Wheeler. I tell people I was the port director and I wanted to go straight, but that was too hard, so I became a consultant. But once I finished the consulting gig, I came to TTI, and that's where I've been for the last 23 years.
Allan Rutter:So, Vince, what was your journey to waterborne freight? How'd you come to be part of the maritime administration?
Vince Mantero:Yeah, thanks again, Allan. I think Jim and I may have gone through the same back door, maybe on a different side of the house. But actually, my background is, I'm a city planner and I started off in a transportation agency, regional transportation agency, and started doing freight planning there. I think it's because no one else wanted to do it. And I just really kind of fell in love with it. I love the intermodal aspect of it. And then soon thereafter went to the port of New York/ New Jersey. That's really when I got my first taste into maritime and ports and just really loved it. Ended up working as a consultant, working on various statewide freight plans and regional plans, and then went back to federal service with Federal Highway Administration and again on the intermodal side, what they would call surface transportation. Arguably, I would say waterborne is surface as well. But at Federal Highway, it was kind of just really on the roadway, which was very valuable and very helpful. But [maritime] came a calling and kind of went back to my roots and spent about five years there, led the Marine Highway Program over there, did a number of research studies, got to interact with several port colleagues I knew way back when from the port authority days. So, in some ways, I'm back home and then coming over to TTI was just the next logical step.
Allan Rutter:So let's talk a little bit about why the legislature created the center 30 years ago. With the recently permitted Texas Gulf Link deepwater port off of Freeport, Texas has or will have 12 deepwater ports along the Texas coast. Each of these ports is very different in terms of activity, types of ships, types of commodities, economic impact. We'll talk a little bit about some of those Texas ports to help our listeners understand about what port activity means to the state. Let's start by talking about Texas's two biggest ports in terms of tonnage and activity, the Port of Houston and the Port of Corpus Christi. What's distinctive about those two ports and how do they matter to Texas?
Jim Kruse:Well, the Port of Houston is a massive conglomeration of marine-related businesses. People think of the Port of Houston as a port authority, but in reality, it's 200 individual private corporations operating on one ship channel. And so it's a very busy place. The Port of Houston actually handles 70% of all container traffic in the Gulf. It all comes through Houston. Plus, they are one of the world's largest petrochemical complexes. So there's a lot of petroleum going through there, a lot of petrochemical products, a lot of intermediate things that move on to another stage later on. But the reason it's so important to Texas is because oil is our backbone, has been for decades. And the oil and petrochemical industry create a lot of jobs, a lot of activity in the area. And for the average " citizen," you have the stuff coming in through the containers that is very important to the economy in general. People don't realize this, but the leading importers of containers in the United States are Walmart, Target, Toyota, Home Depot. So you're getting these things through areas like the Port of Houston that allow you to buy things in the store that you want to buy. Then you go to Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi is the nation's largest exporter of petroleum. They have built huge pipelines down to Corpus and they're just moving stuff out faster. They're having to expand faster than they plan to, but it's working out real well for them.
Allan Rutter:So those petrochemical products, it's as much liquid petroleum and L& G, liquid natural gas. It's the more raw products while Houston is more finished chemical manufacturing.
Jim Kruse:Well, it's interesting. Houston handles all stages of the process. But one of the things they've become a center for is the export of plastic resin pellets, which is what you use to make anything out of plastic. And so they have quite a business going there. I think they're the nation's leader in that area of exports as well. So it's interesting.
Allan Rutter:Yeah, I think a lot of that has to do with the Permian basin activity, the large amount of natural gas, and the fact that there's so much of it, it becomes less expensive. Natural gas becomes a feedstock for that chemical process, and it becomes a fuel for making the plants work.
Jim Kruse:That's correct. And we talk about LNG, liquefied natural gas, as a new fuel that produces fewer emissions than the traditional diesel and oil. Well, the area from Baton Rouge down to Corpus Christi is just loaded with LNG export facilities. And so it's a major industry now in Texas.
Allan Rutter:So Vince, tell us a little bit about Houston and Corpus Christi.
Vince Mantero:Well, Jim did such an incredible job in summarizing... I think the one thing that I would add, especially when it comes to Corpus Christi, I think a lot of people don't realize is, the Maritime Administration, Department of Defense have designated 17 seaports around the country as strategic seaports. And these are really important for military deployment. And Corpus Christi is one of them. And I think when you look at it from not only the energy side, from just basically the economic side, we can't forget the importance of these ports, especially Corpus Christi, to national defense and military deployment. And that's kind of the perfect storm of why these two ports are so important for the economy, for energy, as well as national defense.
Allan Rutter:So when we talk about Houston-- one of the things that the port will be sure to talk about themselves as the nation's largest port in terms of tonnage-- Houston, because of the businesses that Jim was talking about, all of those aggregate together with an amazing amount of tonnage. Talk a little bit about Houston's position within the ports in the national network.
Jim Kruse:Well, Houston is a leading port in foreign exports in the country. And it's interesting, people always think about ports like Los Angeles, Long Beach, and all the trucks and all the press it gets. But in reality, if you put together Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York, you would still have fewer vessel calls than what we see in Houston in an average year. The difference is a lot of Houston's traffic is petroleum and liquid product, which moves by pipeline. So you don't see trucks just jamming up the entire area. Whereas in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York, you have a lot of containers which all have to move by truck. So it's a different type of system.
Allan Rutter:So it's land side, but most of it's buried.
Jim Kruse:Yes, this is true.
Allan Rutter:So Vince, when you were talking about the importance of military activity in some of the ports, that's a good segue into talking about some of the other deep water ports in the state. Specifically, as we think about going from north to south, Beaumont is also one of those military export ports, right?
Vince Mantero:Yeah, so Beaumont and Port Arthur are the other two strategic seaports. So again, Texas has three out of 17. So again, an emphasis on how important Texas ports are to our national defense and readiness.
Allan Rutter:What else is different about Beaumont and Port Arthur?
Vince Mantero:So I think one thing to emphasize with Beaumont and Port Arthur beyond the strategic seaports is similar a little bit to I think maybe Corpus, is they also move a great deal of refined petroleum, chemicals, even industrial cargo. Those are critical for Texas and the nation. I think what's important for both Beaumont and Port Arthur is this kind of dual use for military mobility and commercial trade, as hard enough as it is to run a port for the commercial trade part of it, but then you add the military component on it. And so they have a distinct set of uses that makes them very different.
Allan Rutter:Jim, anything to add?
Jim Kruse:Beaumont actually handles more military cargo than any other port in the country. And so Beaumont is a key player in the national defense for the country.
Allan Rutter:Yeah, so much of what happens on both Fort Bliss and Fort Cavasos out of Central Texas moves out of Beaumont.
Vince Mantero:Yes.
Allan Rutter:Let's also talk about Galveston and Freeport, both very different ports, but unusual sorts of activity and very unique within the Texas port network.
Jim Kruse:Well, Galveston should be really considered as a cruise port. I mean, it has industrial activity, but it is the nation's fourth largest cruise port. And it's growing. It's actually moving up the ladder. So it's an incredibly busy area for the cruise business. When you move to Freeport, Freeport's claim to fame has been traditionally banana imports and then RORO, which is roll-on-roll-off cargoes-- trucks, tractors, cars, and so forth. And they've had quite a bit of business for some of the major equipment manufacturers, as well as people like Volkswagen and regular cars, so to speak, for the typical user.
Allan Rutter:I think Freeport is also, as you had mentioned, this liquefied natural gas. They have a lot of that really major manufacturing that's happening there. And that's one of those places where a lot of the pipelines are delivering that natural gas where it gets liquefied.
Jim Kruse:Well, I should have mentioned it, but Dow Chemical has a huge... in fact, Freeport really is Dow in many respects. But it has a huge facility down there, and they do use the port. They're not on port property, but they use the port assets to ship in and out.
Allan Rutter:Vince, what else about Freeport and Galveston?
Vince Mantero:The only thing I would add is also we hear a lot lately about what we call the maritime industrial base, right? So it's not just the ports, but everything that goes into making a port run-- could be manufacturing, it could be shipbuilding. And we're starting to see several of these ports kind of going into that key part of the maritime industrial base. Galveston is really into the ship repair and again offshore support operations. So beyond just that port influence of the in-and - out of the movement of cargo, the support facilities and the support for the port environment is absolutely critical. And you're starting to see several of these ports, whether it's in Galveston or others, really begin to step up and know their role there. And I think that's one thing that I would point out about Galveston. And obviously with Freeport, I think Freeport-- and Jim can correct me-- is a great pressure valve at times for Houston. It can maybe absorb some of that growth. It has its own strengths when it comes to LNG, petrochemicals, even containerized trade. So I think they just balance each other really, really well.
Allan Rutter:So one of the things that you had mentioned there, Vince, was this maritime industrial base. That gets me thinking about Brownsville. The Port of Brownsville has traditionally had an awful lot of activity taking apart ships. Let's talk a little bit about what happens at the Port of Brownsville.
Jim Kruse:Well, now you're back to my old stomping grounds.
Allan Rutter:There you go. That's your home base.
Jim Kruse:There is a major ship builder there, Amfels, and they've changed hands several times. So I'm not sure what their latest name is, but basically it's Amfels. And they build a lot of very difficult to construct vessels. They also work on offshore equipment and so forth. Brownsville is the nation's leading shipbreaking port, and there's a lot of stuff that goes down there, a lot of old military vessels and so forth that aren't needed anymore. They take them down there and break them apart and sell the stuff they break apart.
Allan Rutter:So "shipbreaking" is the term that you used?
Jim Kruse:Yes.
Allan Rutter:I'm gonna have to make a note of that one. That's that's good to that's good to keep in your pocket.
Jim Kruse:Well, it's a major industry in Brownsville. There are very large yards with a lot of people working on it. So it's interesting.
Allan Rutter:What about Brownsville takes advantage of or serves the activity coming across the border? Is there port activity that's border related?
Jim Kruse:Well, we used to say, and I guess they still say today, that Brownsville is Mexico's northernmost port. I would say probably 90% of Brownsville's business directly relates to Mexico. The steel trade is all related to the manufacturing complex in Monterey and Saltiu in that area. You have a lot of the jet fuel and things like that doing business with Pemex in Mexico. But I guess it flows both ways... but definitely it's Mexican related, and most of the port's clients are Mexican.
Allan Rutter:So we've talked a little bit about when we were talking about Houston, but let's contrast Texas ports, the entire sort of port complex across the coast. What role does it play within the national port system? And then how do you contrast our Gulf Coast ports with those on the east and west coast?
Vince Mantero:So again, coming from my first really maritime experience was at the Port of New York and New Jersey. It was obviously ports such as LA and Long Beach and the Port of New York/ New Jersey are critical ports to the nation. What's interesting with them is that they're largely import ports. They have basically maybe a three to four to one ratio of imports to exports. The difference is the Texas ports are largely exports. And that's really what drives the economy. And I've always kind of thought about it that the coastal ports and east and west coasts may be the front door to international trade, but the engine is really out of Texas. And I think that's one thing that really differentiates the Texas ports-- especially the larger ports in Houston and Corpus Christi-- is that drive to export, which is very different from other coastal ports.
Jim Kruse:We're talking about the amount of tonnage that ports handle too. Texas has three of the nation's top 10 tonnage ports. If you expand it to the top 20, we have five in Texas alone. Texas handles more than 25% of the entire nation's marine cargo. And so it is a major, major player on the national scene.
Allan Rutter:Well, that shows the importance that, given how much of that activity is Texas related, that's got to be have something to do with those exports out of the Texas economy. It's not simply about Texas being a waste station of things coming through us, although some of the export grains and other kinds of products are, but it's also exports that are manufactured or added value in Texas.
Jim Kruse:Especially when you're talking about petroleum and the petrochemical types of things, that's started here and quite often finished here. It is a difference from other ports like Los Angeles, which ships a large percentage of other stuff into the interior of the United States. New York does the same sort of thing into the Eastern Seaboard. But in Houston, or the ports in Texas, typically handle stuff produced in Texas that needs to get to the world market and brings in stuff that Texas needs, specifically Texas needs from the world market.
Vince Mantero:The only other thing that I would add to that is that Texas ports are so well positioned, not only from what we would call maybe the deep water ports, but they're connected to the waterway. And so there's a direct marine highway into our inland markets, unlike maybe some of our coasts. But even if you come in from the Midwestern states, you're always going to be able to have direct access on our marine highways into our Texas ports, which really adds it and gives it some added value to the whole resiliency of not only the marine system, but the entire freight transportation system.
Allan Rutter:Which is a good way to segue into the other name of the Center for Ports and Waterways, which is waterways. Tell our listeners about what we mean by that and what that entails. Navigable waterways-- are we talking canals, rivers, all of that stuff? Jim, why don't you get us started talking about the waterways part of the Center for Ports and Waterways?
Jim Kruse:Well, I should back up one step and say when you're talking about marine transportation, you can typically divide it into two large categories. One is what we call "brown water," which is the barge traffic that moves down the rivers and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The rest of it is "blue water," which is ocean- going-- goes all over the globe. When you talk about waterways, we're really trying to talk about that brown water component. It's the barge traffic moving up and down the Mississippi River, the Ohio River, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. So it's a major, major player in the country. And in fact, if you look at grain exports, it's that waterway system that makes our farmers competitive on the world market. They can get things down to the ocean far cheaper than many other countries can.
Allan Rutter:Vince, this is kinda your neck of the woods, where you just came from. Help our guys understand a little more about the role of waterways.
Vince Mantero:Yeah, thanks for that. It's uh again, I managed the marine highway program when I was at the Maritime Administration. And this has always been near and dear to my heart. It's... Our view is always well, how can we increase kind of usage of our waterways? And I think Jim hit on some great points in terms of the importance of our waterways to key commodities. It could be agricultural, chemicals, energy, even construction equipment. And I think people sometimes forget that just one barge can take 60 or 70 trucks off the road; and try to imagine if those barges went away, all of that would be on our roadways. And I think it's one of those that's a bit out of sight, out of mind at times. And I think that's one thing that when I was at the Maritime Administration, and I know that the Center for Ports and Waterways, when I was looking at TTI and I know it's Jim's work, is making sure that is visible, the importance of these waterways. I kind of say that the ports are critical, but while they're the gateways, the waterways are the arteries. And you need to have both to work properly. The more we can not only encourage the visibility of our waterways, but find ways to increase the usage of our waterways and help maybe take some of these trucks off the road, I think we're all a little bit better.
Allan Rutter:Yeah, I was just attending a supply chain agility workshop that PTI held the past couple of days. And some of the speakers were making the case about agricultural exports and how grain exporters out of the United States compete with folks in Brazil or Ukraine in Europe. And so much of the benefit or the competitive advantage that U.S. agricultural has is the reliability, the relative low cost of that transportation that makes U.S. grains competitive on a world marketplace.
Vince Mantero:That's exactly right. I mean, you know, when people look at our transportation system on a map, they see all the rails and roads, and then there's these big blue lines that no one ever really thinks about. But you have to think about it as part of our transportation system. And it is really, in many ways, an untapped resource.
Jim Kruse:It's interesting. I quite often think about the waterways as being kind of like the airline industry. You never think about it until a plane crashes, and then everybody thinks about it. And it's kind of the same way on the waterways. Nobody even notices the waterways until a ship hits a barge and you got oil going everywhere and things go crazy. Then they notice it. But our job really is to try to make the case that you should notice it more. It's making a difference in your life. And maintaining the system and making it work efficiently really is important for the nation as a whole.
Allan Rutter:Well, that's a good segue into another question that I had is: How do we help our listeners understand why should maritime important matters matter to them? What difference does it make to their lives? How important is maritime activity to normal folks in the rest of the country?
Jim Kruse:Well, I know it may change under the Trump Administration if he has his way, but in the past, if you walked around your house, pick a room in your house, and look at where things are made that's in that room, just pick them up and see what the label says it's made in. Very few of them are made in the U.S. They came on a boat from some other country around the globe. It could have been from Europe, could have been from China, could have been from South America, but it came from somewhere else. And if that system breaks down, you won't have that anymore. And so it's really important for that system to work. And we noticed during COVID how important it was because all of a sudden people couldn't find things in the store. And they just went crazy because when are we going to be able to get it? And nobody really knew because the system was broken at the time. I mean, you can see it in day-to-day life, and COVID kind of highlighted that for us so we could really see how important it is.
Vince Mantero:Yeah, I would add to that, right, so for example this is what happened during COVID in, kind of, what is known as "the supply chain crisis." I think, as being in MARA at the time in the Maritime Administration, I think it kind of bothered me a lot for the picture of the supply chain crisis to be seeing all those container ships off ports and ports being blamed. And I think people began to have a sense of well, it's not just one part of it that goes wrong. It's... you have to look at the entire supply chain, the entire freight network. And it could be because of truck shortages, it could be because of container shortages, it could be because of rail issues. So as Jim alluded to, sometimes people realize and look at ports when things may go bad, when they see those pictures of container ships. But I think when things move very smoothly, they don't think about them too much. And our role is to tell that story and also help our partners tell that story too, because while we can only be as effective as we can be, it's those that require that support and also those that are hiring, those that are impacting the economy, those that are directly related to the importance of our maritime industry. And so we just need to continue to get that message out and not just be a picture on a screen and realize everything that's moving.
Jim Kruse:I heard one time of a hearing on the West Coast about a port expansion. One woman stood up and said, Why do we have to keep expanding these ports? If I need something, I'll just go down to Walmart and get it. Well, what she doesn't understand is, Walmart will have nothing on the shelves if that port doesn't expand. And so it's very important to our daily life, our way of living for these ports to operate.
Allan Rutter:Well, that makes a really good point. Let's talk a little bit about the transition at the Center for Ports and Waterways. Jim, what are some of the things that you've been able to do during your tenure that you're the most proud of?
Jim Kruse:Well, there's a lot of interesting things that I've done. And what I like the most is that a lot of what I've done has actually been put to use. It's not sitting on a shelf somewhere. People care about what it says. And I like that. For instance, we did a study of the chemical tanker traffic on the Houston Ship Channel, and several large industries, including Shell, picked that up and said, we've got to fix this problem. And they used that report to get the ball rolling in that area. We've done an analysis of what it costs a port when you don't keep it dredged properly. And that also helped them get the funding to get the dredging done. We've worked in the waterways industry on locks and dams. The whole infrastructure of the industry is in peril right now. It's not being maintained; it's in bad shape. A lot of things need to happen. We've been able to document that, explain what happens when you don't maintain it, what you need to do to maintain it, and so forth. And so we've also looked at, for instance, like we did a Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Master Plan for the Texas Department of Transportation. And as a result of that plan, we noticed that the Brazos River floodgates needed to be fixed. And they noticed that as well. And they took our report, went to the Texas Transportation Commission and the legislature and got money to start working on that Brazos River floodgates. So the things that we're doing make a difference. That's a really good thing.
Allan Rutter:That's a great point. Vince, what about this job attracted you to it? And then, what are the kinds of issues or opportunities that you're going to be focusing on in your first couple of years with TTI?
Vince Mantero:Well, just listening to Jim for a few more minutes kind of reinforces why this job is so great. You know, for me, when I was thinking about this, I thought, well, this is that position and that next step in my career that really kind of combines everything I've always been interested in, which is kind of policy, planning, and operations, and then research all in one place. And what's always impressed me about the center is not only is it great research, but it's research that's being implemented that people can take and use, whether it's a public agency, whether it's an operator, whether it's a port. It's not research for the sake of research. And I thought, well, this is the next logical step in my career. Again, I knew so many colleagues and my work at MARAD and elsewhere from TTI. I knew the capabilities, and then I came to the realization that there really is only one Center for Ports and Waterways in this country. And it is in TTI. And I thought to myself, you know, it's hard to say no. I think it kind of combined everything that I was looking for in my next career stuff.
Allan Rutter:Talk a little bit about what you see as the opportunities for maritime research at TTI going forward.
Vince Mantero:A lot of it is building on what Jim has already done. And I do think there's some other areas, and we've alluded to them a few times. There's a strong emphasis right now on the maritime industrial base from an economic persepective. Especially, Texas is so well positioned. There's a lot of talk now about kind of reinvigorating the shipbuilding industry. But I think that part of it is really interesting to me. The other part, and again, I alluded to it, was this question of where maritime fits into national defense. And a common theme, it's a little bit out of sight, out of mind. But if you talk to the Department of Defense or Department of Navy, they'll be the first ones to tell you how important our ports are and how important maritime is. And so I'd like to look into that a little bit, only because I just think those are very timely right now. And ultimately, it's also how can we think about this question of resiliency? Not only how to make our maritime network and ports stronger, more resilient, but how to leverage those ports and our waterways during some of these man made or weather related events. Can they be used for, as I mentioned, either national defense for evacuation, et cetera? So I think there's some areas that I'm very interested in. But again, A lot of it is just building on the great work that Jim and the center have already done.
Allan Rutter:I could tell from our conversation today and from working with both of you over the years that you have plenty of passion for making transportation better for both practitioners and travelers. What are some of the reasons that you show up for work every day? And of course, this is going to be a looking back question for Jim who retires at the end of the month. But what is it that drives you to do this?
Jim Kruse:Well, for me, it's two things. One is I work with some really interesting, competent, and knowledgeable people. And that makes any job fun because you get to learn all the time. You're developing skills, you're seeing things you wouldn't have seen otherwise. It's a lot of fun. The second reason is because the maritime industry, as I stated earlier, is such a broad-ranging, varied organization of things. You meet people from all over the world, you get different types of equipment, different types of processes, different kinds of supply chains, just the variety of things that you can look into and the people you meet and work with is just astounding.
Allan Rutter:Vince, what about you?
Vince Mantero:Yeah, I would agree with Jim on the people. And I am in a ... I would say almost enviable position because I'm getting to meet so many new colleagues. I knew many before, but kind of the untapped resources that I have at my disposal is pretty amazing. And the people that I've met and their expertise is really jaw-dropping. And I'm so excited to work with them, getting to know them, getting to build on what they're already doing, and finding a way to continue to push for that maritime part in everything they do. But I would also say that what drives me is I love the maritime and ports field. I just always have seen it as a bit underrepresented in some of the work that I've done before. And I just think this is the time to really put it on the same level as when we talk about our roads and our rails and to talk about maritime and our ports and our waterways in the same vein, especially for those kind of port communities, our waterway communities. I think our operators deserve that, our ports deserve that, and our economy deserves that. And they need to be on even footing with the rest of our other modes. I'm a strong believer in that and continue to do that.
Jim Kruse:The Center for Ports and Waterways has a very good future in front of it. I think Vince will do a great job with that.
Allan Rutter:That's great. Well, thanks, guys. Thanks for being part of our podcast. I appreciate it.
Jim Kruse:You're welcome.
Vince Mantero:Thank you, Allan, for putting this together. Again, it's always a pleasure to be on any call with Jim. And I know he won't be a stranger at all... E xcited to talk about this together.
Allan Rutter:A point of personal privilege to close our conversation today. In my nearly 12 years at TTI, I've had the pleasure of working with Jim Kruse on a number of research projects. And when we visited any Texas port, either the folks there already know him, or they can quickly size him up as someone who knows what he's talking about. Traveling together all over the state, I've had the chance to get to know Jim and can affirm that he is a genuinely good guy. It's been my honor to be his colleague, and I and all of TTI wish him fair winds and following seas. I know that Jim joins me in welcoming Vince into his new role, and we both look forward to new horizons for the center under his leadership. Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard or learned something, please take just a minute to give us a review, subscribe, and share this episode. I invite you to join us next time for another conversation about getting ourselves and the stuff we need from point A to point B. Thinking Transportation is a production of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, a member of The Texas A&M University System. The show is edited and produced by Chris Pourteau. I'm your host, Allan Rutter. Thanks again for joining us. We'll see you next time.