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It was a long day yesterday, I left the Plant at about 1:00pm and I pulled up to the Boliver Ferry landing at around 10pm, where I was informed I was lucky enough to be selected for the random search, and was asked to pull up to the lane to get searched.

When I travel I carry one Pistol on me and one reachable in the car. In this case I had a big ole Uncle Mikes padded Holster stuffed with Berretta P92 and an extra magazine wedged in the drivers side door panel. If I opened the door my gun would be exposed. I did have some time and distance, about 150ft, before I pulled up to the inspectors. At any rate In grabbed a pair of Fire Retardant coveralls from my front seat. grabbed the Beretta and wrapped the coverall around them, all before I reached the inspection point. I popped my hood and trunk and they looked around. They didn't seem to pay much attention to the passenger compartment and never came close to finding the 100 rnds of 9mm In my packpack. It was all done quickly although not particularly efficiently. I had a big backpack a cardboard box and a suitcase.. pluss a lot of stuff crammed in my packseat.. They didn't pay much attention to my stuffed trunk with lots ove electronic parts. I'm pretty sure I could have had an atomic bomb in my car and they wouldn't have noticed. Doesn't really matter though, why would any terrorist be interested in the Galveston Ferry anyway, and why were these people wasting my time and why are we paying them?

what kind of inspection, border patrol?

Its sort of like the TSA but I am pretty sure these people are Texas DOT employees or contractors.

Last summer the thugs made me get out of line and throw away an empty 1 gallon gas can
took me forever to find a trash can to put it in. I complained loudly to the guard. To no avail.

wow
i didnt know it was an issue to travel on a ferry with gas or bullets

to be honest I would have not given it a second thought, its part of the roadway imo
thanks

powerboatr wrote:wow
i didnt know it was an issue to travel on a ferry with gas or bullets

to be honest I would have not given it a second thought, its part of the roadway imo
thanks

I usually try to avoid ferries. They make me nervous.

I can't say for sure about the Bolivar Ferry, but I have daily experience with the Port Aransas Ferry...seeing as how they're both owned and run by TxDOT (as far as I know) I can't imagine there'd be much difference. That being said....

The Port Aransas Ferry some time after 9/11 hired a contracted security service to provide security personnel to be on board each ferry boat during operations. They wear different uniforms than the actual deckhands (and the shoulder badge closely resembles the abbreviation "TSA") but here, at least they do nothing but act as a deckhand. I've never been searched/questioned by one, although our ferry ride is closer to 2 minutes as opposed to Bolivar's long transit. I have noticed, however some of the more proactive guys actually taking a glance in the back of trucks and such...I would assume looking for anyone violating the 12 Gal total/6 Gal container gasoline rule or suppressing any obvious dangerous items. Other than that, they do the exact same job as the guys employed specifically as deckhands...presumably for less money as the guard position doesn't provide a ladder to advance whereas the deckhand position does.

Never really understood the point of security on the Port A ferry....if you blew one up, there's 5 more boats just like it that will keep on trucking. If they shut the crossing down, you could just go the long way around....70 mile trip to get to the other side. During some of the "tourist" weekends, that is sometimes faster than waiting in line for the boat.

Maybe they are worried about a rogue ferry slamming into an oil tanker, or maybe being retrofitted to be an afgany aircraft carrier.

I have been inspected a couple of times when getting onto the Bolivar ferry. I've actually found it beneficial when the lines are long. The inspection line has always been loaded first when I've gone through it and it can cut 30 or 40 minutes off of a long line wait. As has been mentioned previously, I don't think they would find a nuclear bomb unless it had a sign on it. I think I read somewhere that this is being done because it crosses the Houston ship channel and is to "deter" any fanatic from trying anything against one of the ships entering or leaving the channel.

xrays1 wrote:I have been inspected a couple of times when getting onto the Bolivar ferry. I've actually found it beneficial when the lines are long. The inspection line has always been loaded first when I've gone through it and it can cut 30 or 40 minutes off of a long line wait. As has been mentioned previously, I don't think they would find a nuclear bomb unless it had a sign on it. I think I read somewhere that this is being done because it crosses the Houston ship channel and is to "deter" any fanatic from trying anything against one of the ships entering or leaving the channel.

I can't imagine how the Ferry could be more of threat than a shrimp boat. I don't believe the huge tankers are inspected before they are brought down the channel, although customs does make a quick visit after the ship is docked.

The 12/6 gas rule gets overlooked all day every day. Ever watch the small boats cross on trailers... I know for a fact that they have seen at least 30 gallons of gas in cans... Not to mention the landscape trucks with a bunch of gas cans...

The Bolivar Ferry is considered a Texas Roadway. The DPS used to provide security on it, now if I am not mistaken, The Galveston County Sheriff's Office does. The police officers can and will issue citations on the Ferry for such things as expired MVI and Registration. They do random inspections of the vehicles, I do not know if the inspections are done by TxDot staff or the police, the only times I have been across it was with a police officer, so we were not worried about inspections!.

I've been on the Bolivar Ferry a number of times, and the only inspection I witnessed was that of a regular trooper, checking vehicle inspectio stickers, and writing tickets for those expired.

xrays1 wrote:I have been inspected a couple of times when getting onto the Bolivar ferry. I've actually found it beneficial when the lines are long. The inspection line has always been loaded first when I've gone through it and it can cut 30 or 40 minutes off of a long line wait. As has been mentioned previously, I don't think they would find a nuclear bomb unless it had a sign on it. I think I read somewhere that this is being done because it crosses the Houston ship channel and is to "deter" any fanatic from trying anything against one of the ships entering or leaving the channel.

Yeah, cause, there's no way they could buy or steal a powerboat, and hijacking a ferry would be so much easier, and the ferry is such a speedy craft.

dac1842 wrote:The Bolivar Ferry is considered a Texas Roadway. The DPS used to provide security on it, now if I am not mistaken, The Galveston County Sheriff's Office does. The police officers can and will issue citations on the Ferry for such things as expired MVI and Registration. They do random inspections of the vehicles, I do not know if the inspections are done by TxDot staff or the police, the only times I have been across it was with a police officer, so we were not worried about inspections!.

The inspection now is about checking for explosives and terrorist. If the inspection were done by real LEO, I wouldn't have had the same concerns about my handgun in the side door panel. I could have handed the LEO my CHL and explained where the handgun was before exited my vehicle. My issue was that I had 2 txDOT employees/contractors poking around my car that had a loaded weapon in it. I ended up sneaking it out of the car wrapped in my nomex.