Despite the ravages of Hurricane Harvey's 50-plus inches of rain that fell on the Texas Gulf Coast over Labor Day weekend, the Houston Ship Channel and Port Houston re-opened for business as early as Sept. 1.
"Our first priority is to keep our people safe, and we didn't have any injuries or loss of life, very gratefully," Port Houston Chairman Janiece Longoria said. "And our cargo facilities received minimal physical damage. We have a very strong preparedness plan, and it worked very well."
However, Longoria added, damage to the Houston Ship Channel was extreme. By Aug. 31, the mouth of the ship channel where the Galveston Bay system empties into the Gulf of Mexico had been rendered "a mud puddle."
"Many of our region's rivers, bayous and tributaries empty into the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. All of that water has deposited tons of silt into our system," Longoria said, speaking at the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region's annual Gulf Coast Industry Forum held recently in Pasadena, Texas. "These deposits have caused several areas of the channel to be shallower than normal, which obviously will restrict commerce and the movement of ships."
Damage included the Bayport Container Terminal entrance losing about 10 feet of depth, which severely limits the ability of ships to come in at their normal capacity. Barbours Cut Container Terminal also lost 10 feet of depth from silting, and the Turning Basin, which ordinarily has a draft of 36 feet, experienced shoaling of nearly 5 feet.
A study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute determined a loss of 1 foot of draft in the channel costs the U.S. economy as much as $281 million per year and $1 million in lost revenue to an individual container ship.
"Consider the impact of a loss of 10 feet of draft to our national economy," Longoria said.
Other systems that support the channel have also been compromised, including slope and spillway failures and the movement of reinforced structures.
The big picture
Damage of this magnitude affects not only the entire state of Texas but also the U.S. as a whole.
"Without the full use of the channel, inefficiencies impose costs on the logistics systems, businesses and consumers," Longoria explained. "This is critically important for us because we are still the busiest waterway in the United States of America."
Each year, the Houston Ship Channel supports 22,000 ship movements, 200,000 barge movements and more. It also supports the largest petrochemical complex in the nation.
"We are essential to the nation's energy security and economic security," Longoria continued. "If you added together the traffic of three major ports in the United States -- Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York/ New Jersey -- that just equals the traffic in the Houston Ship Channel in any given year. The impact of the channel being shut down even temporarily, as it was after Hurricane Harvey, highlights its importance to us, to the state and to the nation."
Longoria believes it is essential to not only repair the damage but also to build a better and more resilient channel "to assure that we are ready for the future."
"Instead of just returning the channel to its pre-storm depth and width in order to enhance efficiency and resiliency, we will be asking the Trump administration, Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers to build in plans during this recovery effort that will include a deeper and a wider channel for ever-growing demand," Longoria said.
Longoria concluded all of Houston's infrastructure, including its rail systems and roads, are "vital to the regional and national economy and must be protected and preserved."
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