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It took a while, but the Texas Legislature finally decided that the state’s seaports are worth funding, and the Port of Brownsville was among the major beneficiaries.
The port’s Cargo Dock No. 3 reconstruction program was tapped for $11.5 million in state funding through the Texas Department of Transportation’s new Maritime Infrastructure Program. In a literally historic move, the Texas Transportation Commission in September approved $240 million in funding for the state’s seaports to grow trade, improve safety and “provide a more robust supply chain for the state and the nation,” the port announced on Oct. 6.
Cargo Dock No. 3 was one of 31 projects selected to receive MIP funding. Port Director and CEO Eduardo Campirano said the $11.5 million is very welcome and that the port will cover the remainder of the total project cost, currently estimated at $30 million to $35 million.
“We still have a lot of skin in the game on that project, but $11.5 million is a great deal,” he said. “This is the first time that the state ever put money in for port infrastructure projects. That’s the significance about it. This last legislative session was the first time ever where the Legislature set aside money out of the general budget for port infrastructure projects.”
In the past few years, the state’s Rider Grant Program, since dubbed the Seaport Connectivity Program, allocated $40 million every two years for TxDOT road projects that connected to ports, but not for projects within the ports themselves, Campirano said.
“That’s only for projects that are, quote, outside the gate,” he said. “In other words, it’s to get to a port. … The Rider Program was for outside the gate. Well, this (MIP) money could be used by ports inside the gate. So it meant you could use it for docks, for any kind of improvements, equipment — things that would be needed for the purposes of moving cargo.
“Cargo doesn’t start at the gate. Cargo starts at the dock. That is historic.”
The Legislature also allocated money for a revolving loan fund for ship channel expansion projects, Campirano said.
“We have a lot of (ship channel) projects in Texas right now that are authorized by the federal government, and they funded $400 million to that revolving loan fund,” he said. “Ports came out with about $640 million, where in the past it was $40 million and that was it. It has been a very good year, a very good legislative session for the ports.”
The projects that get selected for funding are those that are “shovel ready,” meaning as much engineering and other up-front work as possible has already been done, Campirano said. Of the port’s projects that might have been eligible for MIP funding, Cargo Dock No. 3 was the most shovel ready, he said.
“We’ve got everything ready to go,” Campirano said. “That was imperative, because if we’re going to get money they want to see that money spent. They don’t want you to sit on it. … We could be ready to start construction as early as early next year. That bodes very well for our project.”
Cargo Dock No. 3, which is 400 feet long, began operations in the 1940s handling agricultural commodities. Reconstruction will involve demolishing the old dock, installing steel piles for structural support, then building the new dock.
“It’s not one of our bigger ones, but it’s strategically in (a) very valuable location and we do need it,” Campirano said. “We’re seeing an increase in vessel activity (and) cargo movement. It’ll get put to use as soon as it’s completed.”
