After $625 million and six years of construction, the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, has opened the 11.9 miles of its expanded ship channel.
The four-phase improvement project deepened the ship channel from 47 to 54 feet and widened it from 400 feet to 530 feet to accommodate the growing demand for larger vessels.
“The Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project unlocks a new era of economic growth for both the Coastal Bend and the nation,” David Engel, chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi Commission, said in a news release.
The Corpus Christi Ship Channel is about 34 miles long, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Viola Turning Basin near the westernmost point of Nueces Bay.
The ship channel project was approved in 2017 and began construction in 2019. It was funded by Congress and the Port of Corpus Christi, with support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and private marine companies.
The Port of Corpus Christi has provided more $161.5 million for its portion of the total cost. The federal government has appropriated more than $296.3 million in funding for the project.
The expanded waterway aims to facilitate larger vessels and allows for more two-way traffic, permitting more than one vessel to pass through the channel at the same time.
The Port of Corpus Christi — dubbed the “Energy Port of the Americas”— is the largest crude oil export gateway in the U.S. and the third-largest in the world, behind Russia and Saudi Arabia. It moves more than 2.4 million barrels of crude oil exports per day.
The Port of Corpus Christi also ranks second in the U.S. for liquid natural gas exports.
In 2024, trade at the port totaled $89 billion, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity.
The Port of Corpus Christi handled over $7 billion in trade during March. The port’s largest global trade partners during the month were South Korea ($1.1 billion), the Netherlands ($897 million), Taiwan ($583 million), India ($415 million) and Canada ($386 million).
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