Houston Ship Channel expansion authorized by Congress
On Monday, Congress passed the 2020 Water Resources Development Act. The bill formally authorized the expansion of the Houston Ship Channel, which was recently ranked the #1 U.S. Port in total waterborne tonnage, the company said in its release. These are just the latest milestones reached by the busiest waterway in the nation, averaging 50 deep-draft vessel transits every day.
The Houston Ship Channel and the public and private terminals along it moved nearly 285 million tons of cargo in 2019. That was almost 47 million tons more thanany other U.S. port and a 6% increase compared to the previous year. To support this vital waterway’s continued growth, planning for the deepening and widening of the Houston Ship Channel has been Port Houston’s top priority for nearly a decade.
The Houston Ship Channel expansion, known as Project 11, will widen and deepen the channel for safer and more efficient navigation of vessels calling the port. The project also includes new environmental features to benefit channel users.
The Houston Ship Channel supports 3.2 million jobs in the nation, with 1.35 million in Texas, and nationwide economic impact totaling $802billion. As the Houston Ship Channel’s non-federal sponsor, Port Houston has been the waterway’s advocate and strategic leader working in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Expansion of the channel has been Port Houston’s top priority for nearly a decade.
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals along the Houston Ship Channel –the nation’s largest port for waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas, and the U.S. nation. The more than 200 private and eight public terminals along the federal waterway supports the creation of nearly 1.35 million jobs in Texas and 3.2 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling $339 billion in Texas –20.6% of Texas’ total gross domestic product (GDP) –and a total of $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation.
