Case Study: Port of Houston achieves unified, scalable emergency and crisis communications with BlackBerry AtHoc

Port of Houston Targets Complex Crisis Communications Challenge Using AtHoc Connect

The Port of Houston Authority (POHA) is one of the world’s largest ports, managing a 20‑mile shipping channel that serves petrochemical, container, bulk cargo and industrial operations and affects nearly 6.5 million people across multiple jurisdictions. That scale — plus risks from hurricanes, flooding, industrial incidents, mass vessel and truck movements, and multi‑agency response requirements — exposed critical gaps in POHA’s legacy notification system, which was opt‑in, phone/text‑centric, and could not integrate with marine radios, digital signage, external agencies or personnel systems, limiting rapid, coordinated crisis response.

POHA implemented AtHoc PortAlert as a central, two‑way crisis communications hub that integrates with Active Directory and personnel systems and supports desktop pop‑ups, a mobile app, phones, email/SMS, marine and land mobile radios, sirens, display boards, social media and more. The solution enabled bottom‑up and top‑down coordination, task assignment and confirmations, and has issued 165 alerts since launch; its reliability has also extended to routine uses such as police overtime notifications, demonstrating improved coverage, scalability and operational confidence.

Port of Houston

Colin Rizzo

Emergency Manager