Container activity at Port Houston climbed 29 percent in February compared to the same period last year, while blank sailings in the month of March caused by a combination ofthe Lunar New Year and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic expect to impact volume in March and the months ahead at the US 6th largest container port.
In February,255,474 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were handled, compared to 198,494 for the same period last year. For the year through February, containers are up 27 percent, with a total of 524,247 TEU recorded during the first two months, compared with 413,446 TEUs for the same period in 2019. The jump in container units follows a record-setting year in 2019, when Port Houston saw an increase of 11 percent for the entire year. It was the eighteenth consecutive year of container growth at Port Houston.
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.