Container activity at Port Houston surged in 2019, logging a hefty 11% increase and setting a record, the company said in its release. This marks the eighteenth consecutive year of container growth at the largest container port on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Among the nation’s top ten container ports, Port Houston was 2019’s fastest-growing, according to data from maritime sector data vendor IHS MarkitPIERS. Port Houston nearly hit the 3 million mark for twenty-foot equivalent units, recording 2,987,291 TEUs.
Loaded container exports at Port Houston jumped 17percentin 2019, buoyed by a historic expansion in the export of raw polyethylene resin. Continued growth is projected, as the amount of resins being produced by petrochemical plants along the Houston Ship Channel continues to increase. Loaded imports grew 5 percent in 2019, driven by a broad spectrum of companies from sectors including retail, alternative energy, food and beverageand industrial materials.
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals of the greater Port of Houston –the nation’s largest port for the foreign waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the U.S. nation. 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 total of $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation.