$130m+ for Port Houston

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently released its FY25 workplan, which includes $33 million allocated to the Houston Ship Channel Expansion (known as Project 11) construction; and $98 million to operations and maintenance to keep the Houston Ship Channel dredged.

Port Houston chair Ric Campo said: “Thank you to everyone who pulled together to get this done, including our industry partners, customers, congressional delegation, and specifically Congressman Wesley Hunt and Congressman Brian Babin who worked around the clock to make sure we got what we needed.”

Port Houston reported strong volumes in April. Operations reported nine blank sailings forecasted over the next six weeks at the container terminals.

Despite this, Port Houston remains cautiously optimistic, noting that the number is significantly lower than during previous periods of market uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also announced that the USACE approved the federal Assumption of Maintenance (AOM) for Segment 1B of the Houston Ship Channel (Redfish Reef to Bayport Terminal), in addition to Segment 1C (Bayport to Barbours Cut Ship Channel), which was approved in 2022.

Port Houston Bayport Container Terminal along the Houston Ship Channel. (Photo: Port Houston)

This marks the successful conclusion of a nearly five-year group effort and with these approvals Port Houston will save a net present value of nearly $380 million over the next 50 years. The organization is on track to complete the dredging activities in Segment 1C by late Q2/early Q3 2025, completing the Port Houston-led portions of Project 11 dredging.

• Completion of Galveston Bay beneficial use features is scheduled for Q4 2025.