Ports : USACE and Port Houston sign an agreement for the channel’s billion-dollar widening and deepening program

A significant milestone in the history of the Houston Ship Channel was recognized with the formal presentation of the Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Port of Houston Authority (Port Houston) for the channel’s billion-dollar widening and deepening program, Project 11, according to the company’s release.

The PPA is the official document committing Port Houston to the responsibilities of the project as the local non-federal sponsor. It details the terms of the channel infrastructure expansion, and most significantly, permits the start of dredging the federal waterway. Project 11 is the 11th major improvement of the channel in its more than 100-year history.

The 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel is a vital economic engine for the Houston region, the state of  Texas, and the U.S. Last year, the USACE ranked it as the busiest port in the nation – the channel handles as much vessel traffic as the three largest U.S. ports combined. Once widened and deepened, the waterway will continue to help support and benefit more than 200 private and public facilities alongside it.

About Port Houston

For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals along the Houston Ship  Channel, including the area’s largest breakbulk facility and two of the most efficient and fastest-growing container terminals in the country. Port Houston is the advocate and a strategic leader for the Channel.

The Houston Ship Channel complex and its more than 200 public and private terminals, collectively known as the Port of Houston, is the nation’s largest port for the waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas, and the U.S.

The Port of Houston supports the creation of nearly 1.35 million jobs in Texas and 3.2 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling $339 billion in  Texas – 20.6 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product (GDP) – and $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation.