Efficient port operations ensure not only a smooth flow of goods, but mitigate often inevitable delays and circumstances that can, overall, lead to disruptions in critical supply chains and lead to price hikes for consumers.
Our nation’s ports “play a vital role in the U.S. economy, moving goods into, out of, and around the country,” states financial advisor JPMorganChase. “In fact, over 95 percent of the cargo entering the country arrives by ship, and 40 percent of all U.S. goods pass through a port.”
Despite hurricanes, droughts that impacted water levels on the Mississippi River and the Panama Canal, the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other obstacles to hurdle, seaports in the U.S. Southeast and Gulf continue to play a more-than-significant part in the nation’s economic well-being by continuing to develop and adapt their facilities to meet the ever-changing demands of the nation’s extensive supply chain network.
Six of those port complexes rank in the Top 25 U.S. ports by total tonnage, according to the latest 2024 statistics compiled by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics – Port Houston (No. 1); Port of South Louisiana (No. 2); Port of New Orleans (No. 6); Georgia Port Authority (No. 14); Port Freeport (No. 15); and South Carolina Ports (No. 22.)
Each of the ports operates a Foreign Trade Zone, while two – the Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana – have partnered with the Central Ohio River Business Association (CORBA) to develop programs to increase the growing volume of manufactured goods and agricultural products moved by barge along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers between the two ports’ deepwater cargo terminals and points in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Western Kentucky.
Houston
In the first six months of this year, Port Houston successfully handled 2,098,117 TEUs at its Barbours Cut and Bayport Container Terminals, marking a 13 percent year-to-date increase compared to the same period last year.
In June alone, the port managed 339,157 TEUs, reflecting a seven percent increase compared to June of the previous year.
That same month, the Port took delivery of six hybrid-electric rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes. Including that delivery, the Port has acquired 26 new RTGs since December 2023, which have been deployed at the two terminals which, combined, handle two-thirds of all container-ship traffic in the Gulf of Mexico.
The sprawling Port is a 25-mile-long industrial complex comprising more than 150 public and private terminals that support many industries, including the nation’s largest concentration of petrochemical refineries. The port also is the site of Foreign Trade Zone No. 84, which serves as home to nearly 200 firms, including the largest U.S. facility for raw plastic resin exports, which employ more than 17,300 workers.
The Port Houston’s aggressive 2040 Plan provides a strategic framework for policies, strategies, initiatives, investments, and actions by addressing a broad range of topics from infrastructure, operations, emerging technology, and market dynamics to provide a tangible vision of how Port Houston can grow and better serve the regional and national economies.
By the end of 2024, 15,000 TEU class neo-Panamax vessels will be able to berth at Bayport as the Port continues to make progress on its Project 11 Houston Ship Channel Expansion. The Channel, the nation’s busiest waterway, is navigated annually by more than 8,300 large ships and 231,000 smaller commercial vessels.
The Project calls for the Channel’s Galveston Bay to be widened from 530 feet to 700 feet with some upstream segments deepened to 46.5 feet. Dredging began in 2022 with the final work slated for completion in 2028.
South Louisiana
The Port of South Louisiana has experienced a remarkable upturn in 2023, evident in the Fourth Quarter 2023 data, which revealed an impressive surge of nearly 10 million short tons of cargo.
According to the Port, “this substantial increase follows the port’s outstanding performance in 2022 when it moved 239,257,758 short tons. In 2023, the momentum continued, with the port handling 248,130,992 short tons, marking the second consecutive year of net increases in tonnage.”
This positive shift, it added, “underscores the port’s adaptability and resilience in responding to evolving market dynamics.”
At the very heart of the Port of South Louisiana’s operations is the sprawling 335-acre Globalplex Intermodal Terminal (GIT) – a public terminal that serves the deep-water vessels and barges loading or unloading bulk, breakbulk, and containerized cargoes moving through the Port.
The facility is owned by the port but leased to Associated Terminals and serves as a one-of-a-kind public facility on the lower Mississippi River with storage and warehousing, space for light manufacturing, and an active Foreign Trade Zone.
Established in 1985, FTZ 124, covers some 748 acres on three separate sites with several companies including Valero, Marathon Refining, Bollinger Shipyards, Halliburton Energy Services, and manufacturer J. Ray McDermott Inc. operating with facilities in the Zone.
Port SL’s priorities include developing a $600 million state-of-the-art grain elevator in Greenfield, La., which is anticipated to increase exports by 10 percent and provide 200 jobs for the surrounding community.
The Port is also reportedly working on plans for a first-of-its-kind in the U.S. refueling station for low-carbon emission, hydrogen-based, methanol-fueled vessels. Port SL is also continuing the process of procuring the 254-acre Avondale Global Gateway facility.
“The acquisition of Avondale Global Gateway,” the Port has said, “will further solidify the Port of South Louisiana as the premier gateway for U.S. import and export traffic and aligns with our goals to facilitate economic development in the River Parishes and Southeast Louisiana through waterborne commerce.”
New Orleans
One of the nation’s oldest and most established trade centers, the Port of New Orleans, has access to 30-plus critical inland business and manufacturing hubs such as Memphis and Chicago via six Class I railroads, a network of 14,500 miles of inland waterways, and numerous interstate roadways.
Its Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) was designated FTZ No. 2 and was created in 1946 and is administered by the Port’s seven-member Board of Commissioners.
Louisiana’s FTZ activity is dominated by activity at New Orleans’ Foreign Trade Zone.
The state currently ranks second among the states for the value of merchandise exported from a U.S. FTZ, third among the states for the value of merchandise entering a U.S. Zone, and fourth in merchandise received in both warehouse/distribution activity and production activity.
Looking forward, the port is embarking on one of its largest projects yet – construction and development of the Louisiana International Terminal (LIT), a $1.8 billion container terminal in St. Bernard Parish that will create more than 18,000 new direct and indirect jobs and help drive economic growth in the region.
The project, the Port says, “will allow the port to serve larger ships, positioning the Port as the premier Gulf Coast gateway to import goods and move U.S. products around the world.” Construction on the multi-year project is expected to begin in 2025.
The Port recently acquired a 210,000-square foot warehouse in the Uptown Port of New Orleans Terminal and secured a new 10-year lease with The Kearney Companies, Inc., a subsidiary of Precision Terminal Logistics (PTL).
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) moves the cargo consolidated by the Kearney Companies via its connection to all six of the continent’s Class 1 rail carriers – the BNSF, Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern, Canadian National, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific. Cargo operations have reached 3,000 carloads and close to 20,000 containers annually with volumes continuing to grow.
Georgia Ports Authority
In March, the Georgia Ports Authority approved contracts totaling $65.6 million for container yard work at the Port of Savannah’s Ocean Terminal, a 200-acre facility just downriver from GPA’s main container port.
“We’re very pleased with the progress on the work improving Ocean Terminal’s container handling capability,” said GPA President and CEO Griff Lynch. “We’re on track to see greater container capacity by late 2027.”
The GPA’s Board of Commissioners have also given the go-ahead for three project components, including earth compacting to prepare the site to hold container stacks, removal of a former bridge pier, and preliminary utility installation behind the wharf structure.
Previously approved upgrades at Ocean Terminal include the purchase of eight ship-to-shore cranes, refurbishing the wharf structure, and construction of an overpass for direct access to nearby U.S. 17.
When the work at the terminal is complete, its annual capacity is expected to surge from 300,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units to more than 1.5 million TEUs.
The Port of Brunswick is the GPA’s entrepot for roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) cargo and bulk cargoes. In May, the Port achieved a historic milestone, handling a record-breaking 86,577 units of Ro-Ro cargo, marking a significant 26 percent increase from May 2023.
At 4,300 units, the number of pieces of high/heavy machinery more than tripled the GPA’s monthly average for the fiscal year through April.
The impressive growth at Brunswick follows a $150 million expansion with a fourth berth on Colonel’s Island, 360,000 square feet of new warehousing, and 85 additional acres for auto processing.
The GPA encompasses two Foreign Trade Zones – No. 104 at the Port of Savannah and No. 144 at the Port of Brunswick, both of which mesh with the Georgia FTZ, which provides services for companies throughout the federally-approved FTZ Service Area that surrounds the Atlanta Port of Entry.
Companies utilizing the unique FTZ dynamic include Eastman Kodak, Mizuno, Pratt & Whitney, Precision Components International, Yamaha, and Castle Metals Aerospace.
The GPA is also expanding its inland connectivity with the development of the Blue Ridge Connector near the City of Gainesville. The goal is to enhance the volume of containers moving inbound and outbound between Georgia and the U.S. Midwest. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the $127 million facility will connect the Port of Savannah to Northeast Georgia and offer expedited rail service that significantly reduces long-haul truck traffic.
“The terminal will feature six tracks, cater to diverse industries such as poultry and heavy equipment, and provide a sustainable transportation option with a capacity of 200,000 containers annually,” according to the GPA.
Port Freeport
Port Freeport, Texas, was originally established in 1925 and bills itself as the only deep-water port on the U.S. Gulf Coast that can receive the large post-Panamax container ships now starting to visit the Gulf.
To further accommodate those massive ships, the Port has embarked on its $295 million Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project to widen its main channel and deepen its harbor.
In 2023, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. was awarded a $157.4 million contract to dredge the Port’s 7.5-mile channel to depths between 51 and 56 feet. Completion is slated for late 2025.
Recently, Port Freeport completed a three-year, $146 million project to expand Berth 8 at its Velasco Terminal cargo facility. The work included extending the berth to 927-feet in length. A pair of super-post-Panamax gantries that will work the berth are slated to become operational next year.
One of the unique aspects of the Berth 8 development was the erection of an 85-foot-high roll on/roll off dock structure which allows for vehicles and large equipment to unload and load from a vessel to the wharf.
Port Freeport includes 18 docks, 554,000 square feet of warehouse space, and 38,600 square feet of cold storage facilities with access to a Union Pacific rail line. The port is covered by a federally designated Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ No. 149) whose tenants employ about 2,600 workers.
The recent opening of a new automobile shipment facility operated by a subsidiary of Höegh Autoliners has made Port Freeport a major player in the export of U.S.-made vehicles, particularly to the Middle East.
At the same time, Volkswagen Group of America recently inked an agreement to develop a 125-acre terminal, designed to handle an annual throughput of 140,000 vehicles, including imports from Europe and Mexico.
Freeport Warehouse LLC has said it will complete a chilled cross-dock facility at the Port by the end of this year, while Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. has begun offering weekly Port Freeport calls, bringing in bananas, pineapples, and plantains.
South Carolina Ports
South Carolina Ports concluded fiscal year 2024 on a high note with a seven percent increase in container volumes at the Port of Charleston in June.
In June, SC Ports efficiently managed 218,115 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and 121,267 pier containers, marking the second highest June on record. Loaded imports rose by 10 percent, and loaded exports by five percent, reflecting robust activity in the Southeast market.
SC Ports is the administrator for two Foreign Trade Zones – the FTZ 21 along the coast and FTZ 38 in South Carolina’s upstate region.
The South Carolina State Ports Authority is seeking to add 1,514 acres at FTZ 21, which is located on the site of the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston. The additional acreage will grow the existing FTZ by 75 percent.
Over fiscal year 2024, SC Ports and the broader maritime community handled nearly 2.5 million TEUs and 1.4 million pier containers, slightly down from the previous fiscal year. Despite ongoing toe wall construction, the Wando Welch Terminal achieved a record year, moving over 1.2 million containers.
In March, SC Ports announced plans to acquire the 280-acre site of the closed WestRock paper mill in North Charleston as it looks to expand capacity at its container terminal – considered a “high-velocity connection to global markets.” The NCT facility currently handles about 22 percent of the port’s total container volume and specializes in handling smaller container ships with a capacity of 8,000 TEU or less.
The port says it will close on the additional land “as soon as practical,” adding the extra land will increase the capacity of the facility up to five million containers annually.
Inland Port Greer and Inland Port Dillon also saw record cargo volumes in fiscal year 2024, with a combined 230,409 containers moved on and off trains at the rail-served inland ports, a 24 percent year-over-year increase.
Inland Port Greer handled 187,638 containers in fiscal year 2024, marking a 28 percent increase from the prior year. Greer also set a record for June with 16,450 containers handled, an 11 percent increase from last year.
Inland Port Dillon experienced significant cargo growth in fiscal year 2024, seeing 42,771 containers pass through the facility, a nine percent increase and the first time it surpassed 40,000 rail moves in a fiscal year.
Bio: Michael D. White is a published author with four non-fiction books and well more than 1,700 by-lined articles on international transportation and trade to his credit.
During his 35 year career as a journalist, White has served in positions from contributor and reporter to managing editor for a number of publications including Global Trade Magazine, the Los Angeles Daily Commercial News, Pacific Shipper, the Los Angeles Business Journal, International Business Magazine, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles Daily News, Pacific Traffic Magazine, and World Trade Magazine.
He has also served as editor of the CalTrade Report and Pacific Coast Trade websites, North America Public and Media Relations Manager for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and as a consultant to Pace University’s World Trade Institute and the Austrian Trade Commission.
A veteran of the United States Coast Guard, White has traveled in both Japan and China, and earned a degree in journalism from California State University and a Certificate in International Business from the Japanese Ministry of Trade & Industry’s International Institute for Studies & Training in Tokyo.
