Port Houston officials have indicated via a mid-year cargo report that business is strong across the board.
Port Houston Executive Director Roger Guenther recently delivered the assessment to the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority during its August meeting.
“We’re at the halfway point of 2022 and total tonnage across all the public facilities is up 24 percent year-to-date,” Guenther said. “Import steel is at levels we haven’t seen in nearly a decade, as the public general cargo facilities recorded 2.7 million tons through June. Port Houston’s public container terminals additionally handled 1.9 million twenty-foot-equivalent units through June, an increase of 18 percent.”
During the session the Port Commission authorized over $150 million in awards for infrastructure and operation improvements to the Houston Ship Channel and Port Houston while also earmarking a $40 million contract for three dockside electric ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes for Bayport Terminal, officials noted.
Additionally, officials said the Port Commission approved the $65 million purchase of 26 new hybrid-electric rubber-tired-gantry (RTG) yard cranes. While adding to the 116 RTG fleet at the two terminals, these new cranes aim to reduce emissions by 70 percent.
The meeting marked the first anniversary of the Port Houston Business Equity Division launch, officials noted.