Executive Director Roger Guenther announced today the completion of maintenance dredging of the Bayport channel at a depth of 48.5 feet mean lower low water (MLLW). This completed work fully opens the Bayport Container Terminal to receive 45-foot draft vessels. Bayport joins Barbours Cut to take full advantage of the Houston Ship Channel depth.
Guenther also announced that Barbours Cut recently established a new record for container lifts from one vessel: a total of 4,198 moves was completed working with the 5,000 TEU COSCO Boston. This bests the previous vessel record, 4,153 container lifts just set in March at the Bayport Container Terminal on the Maersk Atlanta.
Port Houston has handled more than 16 million tons of cargo since the beginning of 2017, an increase of 12 percent over last year. The increase in general cargo is due to a 15 percent growth in container volume (loaded containers increased by 17 percent), for a total through June 27, 2017 of 1,023,159 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).