The Equalizer

Sabine District Transportation Club

Member of Traffic Clubs International

 Please keep our troops and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Volume 08 Issue 02, February 2008                                                                                                                                                  S.D.T.C.,  PO Box 20103,   Beaumont, TX  77720  

The Port of Orange office is located in one of Orange’s historic landmarks.  Their website is full of interesting reading on the history of this port.  Be sure to visit their website for more enjoyable reading. A tour of this building can be arranged as well.

The Port of Beaumont is situated 84 miles east of Houston & 270 miles west of New Orleans. It is accessible from the Gulf of Mexico and Intra-coastal Waterway via the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel, 42 miles upstream from the Gulf.  The Port of Beaumont has the facilities to handle a variety of cargo: forest products, grains, project cargo, military, bagged goods, aggregate, metals, & wood Chips.  It is one of the largest ports in the US to handle the transportation military cargo overseas.  These facilities also include a grain elevator, railways, shipside packing and crating service, and 24 hour security. There a variety of services within the Port:

Bulk Cargo,  Foreign Trade Zone

Freight Forwarders/Customhouse Brokers

Government Agencies, Harbor Towing

Labor Organizations, Line Handling, Pilots /Anchorage

Railroads/Rail switching, Seafarer’s Center

Shipboard Waste Disposal, Steamship Agents

Port of Port Arthur is strategically located midway on the barge shipping routes of the intracoastal waterway that extends from St. Marks, Florida to Brownsville, Texas. The Sabine-Neches Ship Channel is part of that system with channel depths to safely accommodate large petro-chemical tankers and cargo ships. The Port is 19 miles from the Gulf of Mexico with 24-hour channel and dock accessibility. Forest Products head the list of commodities handle by this port.  In addition this port has a unique “Rubb” transit shed for the storage of forest products.  Other services include the handling of: breakbulk cargo, iron, steel, dry cargo, bagged & bailed cargo.

The port is located on IH10-less than 100 miles east of Houston.  It has water frontage property available for development that is located on the Inter-coastal Canal & Sabine River.  The Port of Orange is able to handle any type break-bulk general cargo and heavy lift cargo or from barges or deep sea vessels.

  Celebrate National Transportation Week May 11 thru May 17, 2008

      The History of National Transportation Week                                                         

National Transportation Week is the result of efforts started by a fantastic lady named "Charlotte Jones Woods".

In 1952, as the 1st Educational Chairman of the newly formed Women's Transportation Club of Houston, an educational program was set up in the amount of $500 which was designated to go to a scholarship program at the University of Houston for their degree course in transportation subjects. Guess what, no one applied. The college reported they had not been able to interest anyone in becoming a truck driver or a policeman. That's when Charlotte and the Women's Transportation Club decided "we're in trouble, the University of Houston knew as much about the field of Transportation as the students... Nothing!"

Not wanting the project to fail, the Club made inquiries to see if a day, week or month was set aside to honor the Transportation Industry. Nothing was found so the Club decided to change that themselves and have a Houston observance of Transportation Week! The first Houston observance came about the week of March 29 to April 4, 1953.

Contacting other Texas towns, nine additional cities were set up for the observance of Texas Transportation Week in 1954. In collaboration with attorney Frank Norton of Dallas and the Texas Motor Transportation Association, the interested parties put together a 50 page booklet which addressed itself to the How's, Why's and Where's for Transportation Week. The book was sent out across Texas and to Clubs in other states where a similar interest was found.

At the 1954 Education Congress of Traffic Clubs International, the members from Texas gave evidence to the success story of two years experience in promoting the Transportation Industry. Charlotte Woods was elected to her first term as Director of TCI and sold TCI on the National Sponsorship of National Transportation Week. A National Chairman was appointed for 1955.

Immediate efforts were unsuccessful toward a set date to be proclaimed by the President of the United States. A great many people spent long hours in Washington and other areas trying to accomplish this end. There is no telling how many "out of pocket dollars" were used by those dedicated TCI Officers, the Management of the Industry and various carriers themselves before they even began to approach success. Year after year a bill would get through the United States House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, for a Presidential Proclamation only to have it amended before passing... for that specific year only.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy declared a permanent date and from that day forth it will always be the week in May which contains the third Friday (National Defense Transportation Day), with the Maritime Day on the following Saturday.

To quote Charlotte Woods: "So, who is to say that a failure is the end of the line? I contend that failure is, and should be, the fire that goes on to reap success. Yes, success in the field of Educational Scholarships and of bringing the Transportation Industry into the forceful and immediate attention of the public who would surely perish without it."

Charlotte Jones Woods
August 13, 1914 - July 3,

NTW Raffle Tickets on sale April 8, 2008 at Shrimp Boil

We are still gathering prizes for our annual raffle but just to give you a peak-

Grand prize is two round trip tickets to anywhere in the Continental US by Southwest Airlines!

1^st prize is 3-$100 gift certificates for Southwest Air lines.

Spring Golf outing May 13, 2008 in the planning as part of NTW Celebration!

National Transportation Person of the year to be honored on May 13, 2008

Reservation Form for March 11 , 2008 Luncheon

Please make reservations for _________persons at $17.50/ea.

Check is attached (___) Bill me (___) Will pay at the door (___)

Signed_____________________________________Date _________________

Firm_______________________________________Phone________________

Address_________________________________________________________

Clip and mail to S.D.T.C., PO Box 20103, Beaumont, TX.  77720, fax (409) 842-5154, Ph 838-0126 Robert Ferguson, or Sherry Eckerle (409) 842-5290.  You can also e-mail your reservations to: Sherry.Eckerle@sbcglobal.net or make them from the web site

Calendar of Scheduled Events:

 April 8, 2008 – Annual Shrimp Boil

May 13, 2008 – National Transportation Week

                        National Transportation

                             Man of the year

                        Spring Golf Outing

                        NTW raffle drawing

June 10, 2008 – TBA

July 8, 2007 – Fish Fry

It is time to start making reservations for the Shrimp Boil! 

Web Site Update:  To reach the web site from the Internet: http://www.txsdtc.org 

To retrieve the Equalizer from the server:  http://www.txsdtc.org/equalizer/february2008/   or from the web site: txsdtc.org  

Board Meeting Announcements:

There will be a Board of Director’s at 11 am on March 11, 2008 at the Cattle Company.