Port Houston’s Best Year Ever – Best Yet to Come

Project 11 Fully Funded through 11½ Mile Stretch of Houston Ship Channel

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority held its first regular monthly meeting of 2022 on Tuesday. Chairman Ric Campo began the meeting by reflecting on the past year. “Looking back helps us prepare for the future, and the future is incredibly bright for the Port,” he said. The chairman applauded the Port Houston team, partners, and industry for an “incredibly amazing year.”

Despite challenges due to supply chain interruptions, COVID 19, labor and equipment shortages, historic freezes, and hot summers, Port Houston posted the best numbers in its history, Chairman Campo said, and kept its people safe. “It’s not about numbers – it’s about amazing team members and partners supporting each other,” he added. “What the amazing numbers do is create our ability to generate jobs, and invest in our future, and create more value for our region.”

In addition to funding of the first 11½ miles of Project 11, the deepening and widening of the Houston Ship Channel, federal funding for Segment 3 has recently been announced. He noted this project funding was an incredible accomplishment, “considering a year ago at this time, it had no funding.”

He explained that funding would include covering the first contract already approved for the 11½-miles from Galveston Bay to Red Fish Island, and that this work is expected to be completed in 2024. Project 11 will accommodate larger vessels to more safely and efficiently navigate the channel.

Other Port Houston achievements over the past year as highlighted by Chairman Campo included the establishment of its Business Equity Program, to enhance the supplier diversity achievements of Port Houston’s successful Small Business Development Program. He also spoke of the development of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan, sharing that these efforts, along with Port Houston’s Sustainability Action Plan and Environmental, Social, Safety, and Governance Report, reflect its drive for committed, continued improvements “creating greater value for the community.”

Chairman Campo concluded that 2021 was an excellent year for Port Houston (https://porthouston.com/wp-content/uploads/Port-Houston-2021-By-the-Numbers-press-release.pdf), but the best is yet to come.

Actions taken Tuesday by the Port Commission included authorization of revisions to Tariffs 14 and 15 and the adoption of a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the Houston Pilots. The Greater Houston Port Bureau also announced at the meeting that Chairman Campo would be its Maritime Leader of the Year in 2022.

The next regular Port Commission meeting is on Thursday, February 24.

About Port Houston

For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals along the Houston Ship Channel, including the area’s largest breakbulk facility and two of the most efficient and fastest-growing container terminals in the country. Port Houston is the advocate and a strategic leader for the Channel. The Houston Ship Channel complex and its more than 200 public and private terminals, collectively known as the Port of Houston, is 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. The Port of Houston 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 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product (GDP) – and $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation. For more information, visit the website at www.PortHouston.com.