South Texas Port in Corpus Snags Funds to Improve Growing Energy Export Ship Channel
Still too much political and regulatory intrigue: It took 30 years this port project to be completed.
South Texas Port in Corpus Snags Funds to Improve Growing Energy Export Ship Channel
BY CAROLYN DAVIS, December 29,2022
The Port of Corpus Christi in South Texas, one of the largest natural gas and oil export regions on the Gulf Coast, has secured $157.3 million in federal funds to advance the final phase of a multi-year improvement project.
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 recently approved by Congress, the Port received project closeout funding for the Corpus Ship Channel Improvement Project (CIP) now underway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The new funds would be used to advance the CIP’s last phase, which would “render the Corpus Christi Ship Channel the most improved in the entire U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida,” Port officials said.
“The Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project, over 30 years in the making, will significantly increase the ability of our customers and port stakeholders to move greater volumes safely and efficiently,” said Port CEO Sean Strawbridge.
“Whether supplying critical energy commodities like Texas-produced crude oil or liquefied natural gas to our European allies affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, moving military cargo in support of the American Warfighter at home or abroad, or preparing for the next generation of clean energy solutions, the Port of Corpus Christi and its customers play a strategic and humanitarian role in meeting these needs both domestically and globally.”
The Corpus port, said to be the third largest U.S. seaport in total waterway tonnage, set a record of 48.3 million tons in 3Q2022, surpassing the previous record of 46.4 million tons in 2Q2022.
Crude oil shipments for 3Q2022 totaled 28.7 million tons, up 5% sequentially. Refined products hit 8.3 million tons, an increase of 4.4% from the previous quarter. Shipments of LNG increased by 5.8% sequentially to 4.2 million tons, while dry bulk cargo rose by 3.7% to 2.1 million tons. Total year-to-date waterway tonnage through the third quarter was 138.3 million tons.
The CIP is designed to increase the depth of the Corpus Ship Channel to minus 54 feet mean lower low water from minus 47 feet. The channel also is being widened to 530 feet. In addition, 400 feet of barge shelves are being constructed to allow for two-way traffic of both vessels and barges in tandem.
The Army Corps’ coastal navigation construction funds are “the largest single-year federal budgetary allocation for the CIP when compared to prior years’ budgets,” said Port officials.
The CIP is being done in four phases, with the first phase complete. Phases two and three are underway. Texas-based dredging companies Callan Marine Ltd. and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock LLC are conducting dredging operations for the second and third phases.
Phase 4 is set to begin in 2023, with the entire project estimated for completion in 2024.
“It took nearly three decades to commence work on deepening and widening the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, but finally the Port of Corpus Christi and its customers can see the light at the end of the tunnel and final project closeout,” said Port Chairman Charles W. Zahn Jr.
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