In 2003, Isabel, a Category 5 hurricane carrying winds of 155 mph, surged up the East Coast with an eye on the Chesapeake Bay. Vessels headed for Baltimore were advised to mark an evasive course at sea. Ships in port were lashed and moored to piers.

Maintaining a 24-hour watch, The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore received the Coast Guard’s maritime hurricane warning, Zulu. With hurricane-force winds expected within 12 hours, the captain of the port closed the port, and Maryland’s hurricane preparedness plan went into action.

In liaison with the Coast Guard’s captain of the port, who publishes maritime hurricane conditions, the port administration plan guides the maritime community through preparations for a possible hurricane force strike. In May, port officials met to review and refresh the plan for readiness, through a checklist of inspections and emergency tests.

The hurricane preparedness plan is advisory in character and doesn’t supersede directives from state emergency management agencies. The goal is to minimize the risk of death, injury and property damage during hurricane-force winds (winds with speeds above 75 mph).

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Every year, the Coast Guard puts in motion-layered alerts during the maritime hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Hurricane watch levels are designated condition Whiskey and X-ray. Condition Yankee is a 24-hour hurricane warning. Zulu condition expects hurricane force winds within 12 hours. A Zulu alert was imposed one other time in Baltimore, during Floyd in 1999, a Category 4 hurricane, according to J.B. Hanson, MPA spokesperson.

“Some damage to berths, loss of shore power and some washout of slopes and shorelines occurred at the port during Isabel,” Hanson said. “Normal operations resumed after the storm had passed.”

Almost every season the MPA receives at least one Condition Whiskey or X-ray from the Coast Guard. Fortunately, no one on port property has ever been injured as a result of a hurricane.

Following a hurricane strike, ships wait for safe navigational channels. The captain of the portmay not permit vessel movement until all navigation channels are surveyed for submerged hazards to navigation and all navigational aids are operational.

A longtime export analyst and consultant, Joseph R. Hughes’ maritime-related articles have appeared in numerous publications. He is a native Baltimorean. E-mail your questions to him at jhughes_47@yahoo.com.