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The Port of Harlingen was among the top 150 ports in the United States for waterborne tonnage in 2021, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which ranked the port 106th in its recently released report “The U.S. Coastal and Inland Navigation System: 2021 Transportation Facts & Information.”
Port Director Walker Smith called it a “significant milestone” for the port.
“Not only in exhibiting our growth over the last few years, but also in giving our port substantial leverage for federal funding and project viability,” he said.
The report was put together by the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center for the U.S. Foreign Waterborne Transportation for the USACE Institute for Water Resources and reflects vessel activity, tonnage, commodities transported, and origin and destination of vessels in 2020.
USACE used that information to provide statistics that in turn are used to analyze feasibility of new projects and to set priorities for new investment as well as the operation, rehabilitation and maintenance of existing projects.
Those projects include dredging of the port’s main channel and turning basin, recently completed at a cost of $2.6 million. USACE paid $1.7 million toward the dredging, with the port contributing $845,000.
Smith said the data from the USACE report underscores the port’s funding requirements for projects.
“As business grows, so does the demand for maintenance and physical growth,” he said. “Without these reports, federal agencies and organizations would not have a basis of need for funding allocations. … Reporting is so important to our ports.”
According to USACE, Harlingen’s port moved more than 2.5 million tons of marine cargo, a 48 percent increase over the previous year. Waterborne tonnage has increased 195 percent and barge traffic 95 percent from fiscal year 2017-2018. Overall tonnage rose to more than 3.2 million, a 113 percent increase over the same period.
Harlingen is among 12 Texas ports on the top 150 list, while the state ranked first in waterborne traffic nationally for 2021 with more than 600 million tons of cargo moved.
“Our outlook is only getting better, and we foresee us moving up on this list in the coming years,” Smith said. “This is a testament to our port’s leadership and that of our community and region in promoting economic growth and success.”
