SAN BENITO — Directors of four maritime ports presented their cases to the media and local officials yesterday in an effort to highlight the impact of their facilities on the economy of South Texas.
The ports range from the mega-Port of Brownsville, to the smaller Port of Harlingen and Port-Isabel-San Benito Navigation District and Port Mansfield in Willacy County.
The conference was presented by U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, a strong supporter of the Texas maritime industry. Vela told the crowd that in addition to the four ports within his district, the proximity of his constituency to Corpus Christi has led him to deal with issues there, too.
“I feel that everybody who works with the ports is part of my staff, part of my team, so I’m glad that they’re here today,” he added.
Despite the widely divergent sizes and capabilities of the ports in Cameron and Willacy counties, most have similar problems when it comes to operations and revenue.
All four port directors who spoke yesterday say they spend considerable time lobbying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more funding for dredging.
A second issue is the low cost of a barrel of crude oil, which has depressed oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico and forced layoffs in oil exploration firms and support companies which have long operated out of Texas ports to serve offshore drillers.
The third issue mentioned by all the port directors was how to diversify their operations to attract new businesses.
In Port Mansfield, Port Director Ron Mills said his port was a productive commercial port in the 1960s until the early 1990s when the oil industry left for Louisiana.
“So Port Mansfield basically became a fishing community, and has remained such pretty much since then,” he said.
Mills said a major problem was to convince the Corps of Engineers to help correct shoaling problems making entry to the port too shallow for commercial vessels.
“We are pretty much shoaled-in again,” he said. “We have the funds to dredge ourselves out and get ourselves open again on hand, but the problem is its cyclic and the Corps isn’t here now and won’t be back for another year.”
Mills said he has met three times with the Mexican government to establish Port Mansfield as a potential transit point for truck-delivered oil from the Burgos Basin oilfields in northern Mexico.
He also has proposed a maritime training facility for U.S. and Mexican sailors be established in Port Mansfield.
In the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District, port Director Steve Bearden told attendees his port was created in 1929 to move fruit and vegetables in and out of the port.
As produce exports wilted away, he said port commissioners eventually decided to focus on working with the offshore oil and gas industry.
“Everything was moving the right way until the price of oil went down, which is really great for all of us when we fill up with gas, but it’s not good for these guys drilling offshore,” he said.
Bearden says he has been told the magic number to bring back oil exploration and drilling in the gulf is $65 per barrel. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $48 per barrel yesterday.
Bearden said within the past three weeks, he has received word that local oil platforms companies may have some new work in the gulf that could mean 180 high-paying jobs by August.
Walker Smith, port director for the Port of Harlingen, said agricultural products such as sugar cane and cotton continue to be strong exports at the facility and the port is hoping to be a conduit for diesel and other fuels being shipped into Mexico.
“You’re going to see a lot of new companies that want to come in and bring in diesel that’s refined here in the United States, and bring it in here to the Port of Harlingen in the Valley and ship it into Mexico,” Smith said, “because Pemex cannot keep up with demand for diesel, propane and those kinds of products.”
In Brownsville, Port Director Eddie Campirano said people need to be reminded, “Texas is a maritime state.”
“Twenty percent of all of the maritime traffic in the United States either originates or is destined for Texas,” Campirano said.
Campirano said like the other ports he has his issues with the Corps of Engineers and dredging, but noted that in December Congress approved the port for a project which would deepen the Brownsville Ship Channel from 42 feet to 52 feet.
He said this would create significant financial incentives for maritime shipping at the port, although he conceded that while getting approval for the project was an important first step, federal funding is still to be allocated.
He also said the major offshore company Keppel Amfels is branching out into shipbuilding at its shipyard in Brownsville, and already has contracts for two ocean-going cargo vessels. He said it could add up to 700 new, high-paying jobs to the region.
“If you take anything away from this presentation, understand that the ports of the Valley no matter how big or how small, they are energy, they are economic drivers that fuel the region — jobs, jobs, jobs,” Campirano said.
Port of Brownsville
Land — 40,000-plus acres
Docks — 18
Water depth — 44 feet at entrance, 42 feet up to turning basin
Rail — Union Pacific, BNSF, KCSM, BRG
Cargo movement (2016) — 9.39 million short tons
Jobs (direct and indirect) — 44,036
Source: Port of Brownsville
Port of Harlingen
Cargo — 307,587 short tons
Jobs (direct and indirect) — 3,628
Rail — 3,700 feet at the port
Land — 2,000 acres
Water depth — 12 feet on average
Source: Martin Associates impact study, June 2015
Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District
The Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District is one of 12 deepwater ports in Texas with a projected depth of 36 feet. It once was a major transit point for fruit, and still has docks named Banana Dock and Tropical Fruit Dock.
Port of Mansfield
Shoals forming through the South Padre Island cut have limited commercial maritime traffic to the port. Port officials are seeking funds to dredge.
