The Port of Corpus Christi Authority closed its first quarter of 2023 (Q1-2023) with record tonnage of 49.6 million tons, surpassing the year-over-year (YOY) period in 2022 by more than six million tons and nudging past the previous quarterly record of 49.5 million tons set in Q4-2022. March saw the best month ever for the Port of Corpus Christi – with over 17.5 million tons of cargo moving through the gateway, according to the company's release.
Specific sectors of strength included crude oil at a 24.3 percent YOY increase, with crude oil exports hitting a record 2.3 million barrels per day. Additionally, refined products saw a significant increase at 6.3 percent compared with March 2022. Liquified natural gas (LNG) grew marginally to 4.2 million total tons in Q1-2023 versus Q1-2022 or approximately 1.8 percent. However, LNG exports are expected to grow as Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction facility currently is undergoing a 12 million ton per year capacity expansion with new volumes expected to come online sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.
Earlier this year, the Port of Corpus Christi was awarded $16.4 million in grant monies through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) initiative. These grants will help the Port evaluate the feasibility of permanently storing captured carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial operations – potentially accelerating the development of a centralized solution to capture and manage CO2 emissions, a key component of the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The Port of Corpus Christi also has created an Integrated Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub and submitted the application to the DoE in early April.
The Port of Corpus Christi is the largest port in the United States in total revenue tonnage. Strategically located on the western Gulf of Mexico with a 36-mile, soon to be 54-foot (MLLW) deep channel, the Port of Corpus Christi is a major gateway to international and domestic maritime commerce.