Port Houston container volumes up 11% to 281,500 TEUs in September 2021
Port Houston, America’s distribution hub for the next generation, saw double digit TEU growth again in September, according to the company's release. Port Houston container activity for September 2021 was 281,500 TEUs, up 11% compared to the same month last year. This is the seventh consecutive month for containers to show double digit growth, driven largely by increased consumer spending. Year-to-date, TEUs are up 16% compared to 2020.
Steel imports are also up, increasing 161% this month compared to September 2020 and are up 28% year-to-date. This growth reflects increased activity in the energy industry. Texas onshore and offshore rig count is up 243 rigs from October 1, 2020, almost double compared to last year, fueling an increase in demand for Oil Country Tubular Goods (steel pipe) for drilling operations.
Earlier this week the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority awarded the first major dredge contract for the billion-dollar Houston Ship Channel Expansion – Project 11. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC was awarded up to $95.4 Million to dredge 11½-miles of the 52-mile channel, widening a major portion of the Galveston Bay reach from 530 to 700 feet.
The work includes the construction of a new bird island and oyster mitigation. Port Houston negotiated multiple options and selected the approach with the most reduction in overall NOx emissions, using more efficient equipment and providing for retrofitting emission-reduction technology.
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 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.
