18
May
2015
The Most Irreplaceable Port
Posted On May 18, 2015
By Kathryn Hamilton, CAE
And has 1 Comment
Centrally located in the southern United States, the Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long port is located just east of downtown Houston. It offers great distribution to both the East and West coasts, and customers and terminal operators enjoy efficient distribution by railroad, multiple highways and air freight.
Read on to catch up on the impressive facts and figures surrounding this booming port and how it has readied itself for the Panama Canal expansion.
- Four new Super Post-Panamax wharf cranes were added at the port’s Barbours Cut Container Terminal in April 2015. The cranes, nearly 30 stories high, can lift and lower a loaded container at twice the speed of the cranes currently in use. They weigh 1,505 tons and, as the largest ever built by Konecranes, are 289 feet high with a lift height of 204 feet. They will handle ships 22 containers wide. The cranes left for Houston on February 23 from Mokpo, South Korea, and took 73 days to arrive at their destination.
- The port has been ranked No. 1 in the United States for foreign waterborne freight for 17 consecutive years, U.S. imports for 21 consecutive years and U.S. export tonnage for four consecutive years, making it clear why Colliers International has named Houston “Most Irreplaceable Port.”
- The ports land space, berth lengths, port depth and intermodal efficiencies are remarkable, allowing it to handle high volumes of cargo. A November 2014 announcement says that container volume at the port grew 15 percent year-over-year.
- It’s the largest Texas port with 46 percent of market share by tonnage and 95 percent market share in containers by total TEUS in 2014, and the largest Gulf Coast container port, handling 67 percent of US Gulf Coast container traffic in 2014.
The Port of Houston is part of a series on the preparedness of U.S. ports for the Panama Canal expansion. Download an in-depth look at the port published by the NAIOP Research Foundation.
Kathryn Hamilton, CAE, is Vice President for Marketing and Communications at NAIOP Corporate.
