Port Houston Will Run Its Own Study for a Deeper Ship Channel: Project 12 Planning Starts as Project 11 Wraps Up

HOUSTON - Port Houston is already planning the Houston Ship Channel's next deepening. At the Port Commission's regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 21 - reported in the Port's release published Thursday - CEO Charlie Jenkins announced that Port Houston will move forward with its own study for portions of a potential Project 12, the next major improvement to deepen the channel, under Section 203 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986. The Port-led study will run in parallel with the Port's partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a traditional feasibility study for improvements to the broader Ship Channel and Galveston Bay system. Earlier that week, the Port and the Corps held a Federal Interest Determination meeting, beginning a 45-day process that will produce a recommendation on Project 12's scope of study.

The meeting marked the completion of the Port-led segments of Project 11, the current channel improvement program. 'We have an extraordinary economic engine here in Houston, and we have a responsibility to help ensure it can continue supporting jobs and economic prosperity for generations to come,' Chairman Ric Campo said. The Port is also evaluating how to handle the additional container capacity the region is projected to need over the next decade: the Corps has held a public scoping meeting for a potential expansion north of Barbours Cut Terminal onto Spilman Island, and Port Houston hosted Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech for a site tour. That expansion remains one of multiple options under consideration, the Port said, and would require a formal Final Investment Decision by the Port Commission before advancing - a study decision is not a construction approval, and this story carries it at that stage.

The cargo numbers behind the planning are strong. Strong peak-season consumer demand drove a 5 percent year-to-date increase in Port Houston's loaded imports, making Houston one of the nation's top ports for import growth, and the Ship Channel region handled 22.3 million tons of foreign cargo in August, up 18 percent year over year, with exports increasing 24 percent. The Transportation Security Administration also selected Port Houston to host a regional intermodal security exercise bringing together law enforcement, the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and industry partners. Next week the Houston International Maritime Conference, November 2-5, brings Panama Canal Administrator Ilya Espino de Marotta to Houston - 'the leader of one of the world's most important waterways,' Campo said. The Port Commission meets next on Tuesday, November 10.