10 
American Journal of Transportation
American Journal of Transportation  
ajot.com
after the soil settles.
In February, the Port 
of Galveston approved an 
updated 20-year master plan, 
predicting $2.4 billion in 
investments over the next two 
decades, with a focus on new 
cruise terminals and hotels, 
while, within five to 10 years, 
increasing cargo capacity to 
more than 5 million tons a 
year from the current 3 mil-
lion annual tons. The plan 
also looks at development of 
port-owned land on Pelican 
Filling of the Pier 38-39 slip area creates additional cargo-handling acreage at the Port of Galveston. (Photo: Callan Marine)
Del Monte Produce Inc. have 
further extended Freeport’s 
cargo mix in automotive and 
perishables sectors.
A July ribbon-cutting is 
slated for the $295 million 
Freeport 
Harbor 
Channel 
Improvement Project, for 
which dredging was com-
pleted in late April. The 
project has now entered its 
closeout phase with the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, 
delivering channel depths 
of as many as 56 feet, with 
alongside depth of 51 feet 
at container berths. Federal 
funding has covered $165 
million of the endeavor’s 
cost, with the remainder sup-
ported by bonds approved 
back in 2018 by Brazoria 
County Port District voters.
Port Freeport’s Velasco Container Terminal features four ship-to-shore gantries, including two super-post-Panamax 
cranes delivered last September.
(DEEPER – continued on 
page 11)
(DEEPER – continued from 
page 9)
Concurrently, expansion 
continues to advance at Port 
Freeport’s Velasco Container 
Terminal, which last Septem-
ber doubled its ship-to-shore 
crane contingent to four units 
with the delivery of a pair of 
super-post-Panamax gantries.
Port of Corpus Christi 
Driven 
primarily 
by 
increases in shipments of 
crude oil and liquefied nat-
ural gas, the Port of Corpus 
Christi is continuing to move 
record volumes, furthering 
its status as the third-busiest 
U.S. port as measured by 
total waterborne tonnage, 
while enjoying benefits of a 
deeper channel plus a taller 
Island, across from Galves-
ton Island.	
.
Port Freeport
Positioned within one 
of the nation’s most critical 
energy and trade corridors, 
about 60 highway miles south 
of Houston, Port Freeport, 
with its shortest-along-the-
Gulf 3-mile channel distance 
from open sea, is benefiting 
from a deeper harbor and 
expanded container terminal. 
Also, the 2024 additions of 
partners Volkswagen Group 
of America Inc. and Fresh 
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