Port Houston resumed operations Wednesday after being closed for two days due to the arrival of Hurricane Beryl .
US Ports See 'Strongest Surge in Volume' Since August 2022
The port is the largest in Texas and the fifth largest by annual container traffic in the U.S., and handles 73 percent of U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic.
In a notice, the port also indicated that it will offer extended gate hours at its container terminals. On Wednesday and Thursday, the gates will remain open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Central Time, with the ingate set to close at 7 p.m. On Friday, terminal gates will stay open between 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the last entrance allowed at 6 p.m. Saturday, the opening hours will be cut down to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The port’s truck office will also be open tomorrow for normal hours of operation.
From January to May, the port has handled 1,758,960 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), 14 percent more than the five-month period in 2023. In May alone, the number jumped 21 percent to 364,866 TEUs. Like other major U.S. ports, Port Houston is seeing an uptick in activity as more shippers are looking to import goods ahead of the traditional peak shipping season and possibly get out in front of increased tariffs on goods from China .
Alongside Port Houston, the nearby Port of Galveston also resumed normal operations Wednesday.
As of Sunday, there were more than 250 vessels in the vicinity of the ports that that were impacted by Beryl, according to data from supply chain visibility platform Project44. The company said it expected the two-day closures throughout the Texas ports to impact vessel volume, dwell times and berthing times.
Amazon UK Warehouse Workers Conduct Union Recognition Vote
Project44 said in an update Tuesday that truckload on-time performance in the Houston area had not been impacted so far, but volume levels were 60 percent lower than prior to the storm.
Late Tuesday, operations at BNSF Railway also resumed service after having been closed the prior two days. The Pearland Intermodal Facility is now open for ingates and pickups, and train flows have resumed throughout the Houston complex.
“Customers should expect lingering delays to traffic flow in this region as recovery efforts are ongoing, however, conditions and fluidity will continue to improve throughout the day,” said the advisory. “Prompt unit pickup is encouraged at Pearland to improve traffic flows, reduce lot congestion and provide space needed to process inbound freight quickly as operations continue to normalize following Hurricane Beryl.”
Beryl, which made landfall early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, has been blamed for at least seven U.S. deaths and at least 11 in the Caribbean.
CenterPoint Energy, the main electricity supplier for the Houston metropolitan area, said in a statement Tuesday night that it had restored power to 850,000 customers since Beryl arrived, one-third of the 2.7 million initially affected.
AccuWeather estimates that the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Beryl will cost $28 billion to $32 billion. President Biden granted a federal emergency disaster declaration for parts of Texas due to Beryl’s destruction, acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick announced Tuesday.
Hurricane Beryl's Potential Fallout: Extended Wait Times at Texas Ports
Local Houston, TX
Most Popular
Comments / 0