Goodbye to all that.

This is the final printed issue of Gulf Shipper, and the writers who have been bringing you the latest Gulf shipping and transportation industry news, along with the copy editors and production staff, join me in bidding adieu to the print version of our magazine.

When I first started writing for Gulf Shipper in 1999, the Gulf transportation and logistics industry held great promise for meaningful growth. In those halcyon days, Houston and New Orleans dominated the container market, and most ports were beehives of breakbulk and bulk activity as trade with Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia held unlimited potential.

In the past decade, the Port of Houston and smaller Gulf ports substantially increased container volume, and New Orleans became the breakbulk niche hub of the Gulf, handling steel, rubber, forest products and specialty metals.

Some trade lanes proved their promise, and others remained just beyond the reach of Gulf shippers. Houston and other Gulf ports became project cargo hubs, trade with Latin America flourished, and steady trade developed with Africa and the Middle East. Much of the northern European market contracted with the collapse of the U.S. export market last year, and Asian ocean cargo has remained beyond the Gulf's reach. Ports remain hopeful that lane will still open with the widening of the Panama Canal in a handful of years.

Some port projects came to pass, and others ...