Houston opts to expand container terminal with US$74 million wharf

Houston Harbour Commissioners gave approval for building a US$74 million pier at the Bayport terminal to add a container wharf to add to the other that opened a year ago to handle the growing traffic.

The Port of Houston Authority Commission will invite bids for a contract likely to be signed in March for the construction of the 1,330-foot wharf that should start this summer and will take 18 months to build, reports The Houston Chronicle. Container tonnage at the Port of Houston was a record 16.4 million tons in 2007, up 12 per cent year on year, said port executive director Tom Kornegay. Mr Kornegay said imports and exports were usually the same, but exports now lead, making up 60 per of throughput. Bayport was built to take pressure off the crowded 30-year-old Barbours Cut terminal, which has been operating over capacity and around the clock.

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