Port Houston has experienced a major failure of the storage devices that support all of the applications used to operate both Barbours Cut and Bayport Container Terminals on 27 July, with both terminals remaining closed.
In advance of the truck gates opening at their normal time of 7:00 a.m. (local time), a first failure occurred. The port’s staff moved the applications and associated data to a redundant set of storage devices and the terminals were again operational by 10:00 a.m., but the redundant storage devices failed at 12:00 noon and the terminals have been unable to process any transactions since then.
7/28/21 5:45 pm Update: Bayport and Barbours Cut Container Terminals will remain closed at 7am Thursday, July 29th due to a hardware failure. We’re working diligently to restore our systems and will provide updates as soon as we can. https://t.co/KKv8hMxzYU pic.twitter.com/mGrpRLu1Xl
— Port Houston (@Port_Houston) July 28, 2021
“I want to be clear that this is not a cyber-attack on the Port Houston operating system,” highlighted Roger Guenther, Executive Director of the port.
The ships that were already in progress have been able to continue working, but new vessel starts have not been possible, while the truck gates at both container facilities are also idle, according to Port Houston’s statement, which said that port authority staff and contractors are working to rectify the issue.
“All necessary hardware is now in our possession, but configuration and restoration of all components has been a slow process,” noted Guenther, who added, “upon return to operation our plans include daily extended gate hours as well as weekend gates.”
