Port of Corpus Christi Authority Holds Open House to Address Ship Channel Feasibility Study
On September 26 and 27, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority held an open house at Port Aransas and Corpus Christi, Texas, to answer questions and provide feedback about studying the feasibility of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel from the Gulf of Mexico through Harbor Island to La Quinta Junction to between 75 and 85 feet.
The deepening would allow for the transport of crude by fully laden Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs).
Port Houston Continues to Shatter Records After Bayport Channel Deepening; Port Commission Highlights Needs for Houston Ship Channel
Port Houston is seeing rapid growth in the size of ships calling its container facilities, following the completion of the widening and deepening of its Bayport Channel, the port said.
Port Houston Bayport Container Terminal Later this week, In September, the Port Houston received its largest container ship to date, a 9,500 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) vessel. Earlier in the month, Port Houston received an 8,450 TEU vessel to Bayport. As another example of the growing demand, in July the port recorded the largest number of container lifts on one vessel in its history at 4,800 lifts. That record has since been shattered twice, the latest being earlier this month when more than 5,700 container moves were handled on one of the port’s East Asian services.
Port Houston concluded the month of August delivering strong results. Overall tonnage for the year at nearly 28 million tons reflects an 8 percent increase over last year. Steel tonnage remained steady through August, reflecting growth of 29 percent for the year. August container volume remained solid, but Executive Director Roger Guenther noted that comparisons to the same month last year at this time is skewed due to the effect of Hurricane Harvey with port operations closed for a week in August of 2017. However, year-to-date activity continues to be strong with a port-wide increase of 11 percent overall in TEU. Loaded container units are up 10 percent compared to last year.
Before concluding the port commission meeting in late September, Chairman Janiece Longoria underscored some of the advocacy efforts given by port commission members, staff and herself to top leadership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the greater interests of the Houston Ship Channel to stress the requirements for widening and deepening of the busiest waterway in the nation to serve our industry and maintain efficient two-way traffic.
“Through our partnership with the Corps in the current Mega-Study that will conclude in 2019,” Chairman Longoria said, “We continue to highlight the need to widen the channel through the entire reach of Galveston Bay to handle increasing vessel sizes, and that the economic security of our nation is dependent upon safe, two-way traffic through the busiest waterway in the nation.”
