During the regular meeting of Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority on Tuesday, Port Houston Chairman Ric Campo announced the results of the latest study of the economic impact of the Houston Ship Channel and Port Houston.
Results from the John Martin Associates study showed that in 2022, the Houston Ship Channel generated $906 billion of economic value to the U.S., representing a 13% increase since 2018, when the study was last conducted. Marine cargo activity at the Houston Ship Channel terminals generated $439 billion of economic value for the state of Texas. In 2022, the Houston Ship Channel and its terminals also supported 3.4 million jobs across the nation, including 1.5 million Texas jobs. Since 2018, the growth in marine cargo activity, buoyed by the strong growth in container activity at Port Houston's two public terminals, resulted in nearly 190,000 new Texas jobs, as well as an increase of more than $100 billion in economic value to the state of Texas.
Port Houston's two public container terminals handled 1,026,260 loaded twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) through April, surpassing the 1 million mark earlier in this year than ever before. Loaded and unloaded containers total 1,241,910 TEU for the year.
The Houston Ship Channel complex and its more than 200 private and eight public terminals, collectively known as the Port of Houston, is the US largest port for waterborne tonnage.