Coast Guard shifting staff to Houma

Over the next few years, U.S. Coast Guard leaders plan to shift personnel from Morgan City to Houma to meet the demand in that area, but Morgan City will continue to have “a very substantial” Coast Guard presence, Coast Guard Rear Adm. David Callahan said Friday.
Callahan was the guest speaker at the Port of Morgan City industry luncheon held Friday at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.
Callahan, commander of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District in New Orleans, oversees Coast Guard operations in 26 states including the Gulf Coast and Outer Continental Shelf. He has previously served as assistant Coast Guard commandant for human resources, commander of the Coast Guard’s personnel command and director of reserve and military personnel policy at Coast Guard headquarters.
He is a Coast Guard aviator with over 30 years of military and civil flight experience. Callahan is in his fifth tour of duty on the Gulf Coast region and third in New Orleans.
As the new district commander for a 26-state region, Callahan considers the Morgan City and Houma area a “center of gravity for us in the Coast Guard” due to its maritime nexus with the Outer Continental Shelf and inland waterways, he said.
The first Coast Guard marine inspections detachment came to Morgan City in 1968 and since then there’s been different varieties of marine safety units here, Callahan said.
Callahan discussed the Coast Guard’s plans to shift some personnel from Marine Safety Unit Morgan City to the Coast Guards sub-unit in Houma.
“A large portion of our work has shifted to the Port Fourchon area. In fact, we’ve seen dramatic changes over the past few years,” Callahan said. “That’s one of the biggest things I noticed coming back to the area.”
Port Fourchon has grown a lot and, therefore, the Coast Guard is going to have to shift its resources from Morgan City to Houma, he said.
“I have to do it. I am absolutely losing too much productivity and efficiency to continue the way we’re doing it,” Callahan said.
Though Morgan City remains an area with much work for the Coast Guard to do, staff members are tying up thousands of hours to constantly travel back and forth to Port Fourchon, he said.
Coast Guard Capt. David McClellan, commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Morgan City, said the shift will begin in May 2016 and take place over several years.
Currently, the Morgan City unit has about 120 personnel with that number expected to decrease to 90 people by May due to the shift to Houma, McClellan said. McClellan’s position is among those projected to move to Houma in May, he said.
There are about 52 Coast Guard staff in Houma right now. After the final transition within the next few years, the Coast Guard plans to have 77 members in Morgan City and roughly 90 members in Houma, McClellan said.
The Houma sub-unit will eventually become the main Marine Safety Unit for the region and Morgan City will serve as the sub-unit, McClellan said.
“We’re still going to be able to do effectively what we’re doing,” McClellan said of the Coast Guard’s Morgan City operations.
Offshore marine investigators and pollution response staff will move to Houma, while the onshore work currently performed in Morgan City will stay here, he said.
The continuance of the Coast Guard’s Morgan City presence includes the work of its emergency response vessels, facility inspectors, marine inspectors at local shipyards and a reduced pollution response and marine investigation staff, McClellan said.
Coast Guard officials are awaiting final approval regarding the Port of Morgan City’s proposal for Marine Safety Unit Morgan City to move from its David Drive office to the first floor of the port’s new Government Emergency and Operations Center on La. 182 in Morgan City. The center is set to open in October.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com