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Houston sees petrochemical plants, mega-ships driving box volumes
THE Port of Houston is preparing to handle a surge in containerised exports of plastic resins that will be produced by petrochemical plants due to commence operations in the next three or four years.
By 2020, six plants will turn cheap natural gas into exports of polyethylene equal to one-fifth of all the containers handled by the port last year, when throughput rose 12 per cent over 2014 to reach a record 3.1 million TEU.
Port authority executive director Roger Guenther anticipates growth this year will slow to the two to three per cent range, reported IHS Media.
"A lot of that will come from organic growth of imports and exports, but a lot of the longer-term growth over the next three or four years will kick off when some of these plastic resin facilities come on line for export," Mr Guenther said.
Those plants will produce an estimated 400,000 TEU of resin exports that will be added to the port's annual totals starting next year. Asian cargo is also expected to rise with the arrival of bigger containerships after the expanded Panama Canal opens in mid-2016.
To handle growth on this scale, the port plans to invest US$1.6 billion through 2021 to deepen and widen its channel and raise capacity at its Barbours Cut and Bayport container terminals. It has three super-postpanamax cranes on order that can reach across 22 containers. The investment will boost the port's annual capacity to five million TEU from the current three million TEU.
By 2020, six plants will turn cheap natural gas into exports of polyethylene equal to one-fifth of all the containers handled by the port last year, when throughput rose 12 per cent over 2014 to reach a record 3.1 million TEU.
Port authority executive director Roger Guenther anticipates growth this year will slow to the two to three per cent range, reported IHS Media.
"A lot of that will come from organic growth of imports and exports, but a lot of the longer-term growth over the next three or four years will kick off when some of these plastic resin facilities come on line for export," Mr Guenther said.
Those plants will produce an estimated 400,000 TEU of resin exports that will be added to the port's annual totals starting next year. Asian cargo is also expected to rise with the arrival of bigger containerships after the expanded Panama Canal opens in mid-2016.
To handle growth on this scale, the port plans to invest US$1.6 billion through 2021 to deepen and widen its channel and raise capacity at its Barbours Cut and Bayport container terminals. It has three super-postpanamax cranes on order that can reach across 22 containers. The investment will boost the port's annual capacity to five million TEU from the current three million TEU.
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