Bayport and Barbours Cut Dredging Makes Progress

The Port of Houston Authority is ready to provide cost-efficient and consistent solutions to cargo owners and logistics companies, Executive Director Roger Guenther said yesterday in his monthly report to the Port Commission.

“We continue to receive many inquiries about moving freight from East Asia via the Panama Canal and through our port,” Guenther reported to the Port Commission during the regular monthly meeting.

Emphasizing the Port Authority’s readiness to capture increased container cargo demand through the region, Guenther cited four new wharf cranes destined for the Barbours Cut Container Terminal, which departed this week from Korea and are expected to arrive at the terminal in early May.

At the meeting, the Port Commission also approved the purchase of nine new rubber tired gantry cranes for the Bayport terminal.

Guenther reported that dredging is progressing well at the Bayport and Barbours Cut channels. With much of the disposal site and preparatory work complete, plans call for adding two dredgers to the project so that in the coming months, one dredge will work at Barbours Cut and two dredges will operate at Bayport.

“Dredging continues to be closely coordinated with the (Houston) Pilots, the maritime industry, and the communities around our terminals,” he said. “When the new Barbours Cut cranes are commissioned, our deepened channel will be complete and ready – and the Bayport channel will also be completed this year, well in advance of the completion of the new Panama Canal locks.”

In his financial report to the Port Commission, Guenther said tonnage continues to be strong. In January, import steel was up by 35 percent over the same month in 2014, but Guenther noted high steel volumes are expected to taper off. Container cargo volume has continued to strengthen as well, with a constant upward trend in full import boxes.

PHA attained a healthy overall 2.9 million tons for the first month of the year.

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