HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of a unique public/private partnership at Port Houston, ground was broken Tuesday for a new container yard for empty containers inside the Bayport Container Terminal.
Terminal Link Texas (TLT) is constructing the 25-acre empty container yard inside the Bayport terminal. The project will increase TLT’s overall stacking capacity by as much as 80 percent. It also will allow for increased container freight station activities and improved maintenance and repair operations.
The new container yard is slated to open in July of 2018.
As part of the lease agreement between Port Houston and TLT, the company will construct and use the fortified 25-acre container yard at Bayport and return 14 existing acres that it operates there to Port Houston. Discussions regarding the new container yard have been underway for some time and the facility is part of the master plan for Bayport.
Container volumes have been growing at Port Houston and were up by 14 percent in the first half of the year compared to last year. Growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future as petrochemical facilities along the Houston Ship Channel expand and produce more plastic resins for export.
Bayport, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is being built out in phases. Upon completion, the terminal will have seven berths. Port Houston, which also operates the Barbours Cut Container Terminal, handles about two-thirds of all the containers that move through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals of the Port of Houston – the nation’s largest port for foreign waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the nation. It supports the creation of nearly 1.175 million jobs in Texas and 2.7 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling almost $265 billion in Texas – 16 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product – and more than $617 billion in economic impact across the nation. For more information, visit the port’s website at PortHouston.com.
