Port of Houston resumes operations

Operations at the Port of Houston have restarted as of Monday, Sept. 4, 2017, after a steady downpour of rain had caused that city’s network of port facilities to have been closed starting from midday Friday, Aug. 25. The hurricane and tropical storm named Harvey dumped as much as 50 inches of rain in and near Houston.

On the Port Houston website, a scrolled message had earlier declared, “ERT (Emergency Response Team) Notice: All Port Houston facilities will remain closed on Wednesday, Aug. 30th, due to the weather impact across Houston. We will be continuing to monitor weather conditions to determine when operations can safely resume. At this point [there are] no indications from the U.S. Coast Guard on when the Houston Ship Channel will reopen for vessel transits. Updates will be provided as more information is available.”

By Friday, Sept. 1, the website indicated that “Port Houston Barbours Cut and Bayport terminals have resumed operations,” and that “gates are open Friday, 0700 – 1700” and “vessels will be worked as they are cleared for transit.”

That same announcement indicated that Port Houston Turning Basing Facilities, both the upper level and lower level roads, are again open for operations, and that the Jacintoport also was open for business as of Sept. 1.

On Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4, another announcement indicated that “all Port Houston facilities have resumed operations,” with the BCT and Bayport gates open on Labor Day to help clear vessels.

The Port of Houston handles some 240 million tons of cargo and 8,200 vessels annually, divided between container ships and breakbulk vessels. The Port describes itself as holding the first rank in foreign export breakbulk tonnage.

Statistics from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show some 343,000 metric tons of ferrous scrap were exported from the Houston-Galveston Customs District in 2016, placing it only behind Laredo, Texas (a land crossing) in the Gulf Coast region. In the first four months of 2017 more than 90,000 metric tons of ferrous scrap were exported from the Houston district.

Exported paper, plastic and nonferrous scrap also moves through Houston’s port facilities via its container terminals.