Port Gives International Flavor to Corpus Christi
Published May 27, 2008
Ships docked at The Port of Corpus Christi
The Coastal Bend looms large as a place for global companies to do business.
“The No. 1 reason is because we have the Port of Corpus Christi. It’s the sixth-largest port in the nation in terms of annual cargo volume,” says Michael Perez, the port’s director of business development. “We have excellent facilities to handle a wide variety of cargo, and it’s the deepest U.S. port in the Gulf of Mexico.”
If the port alone doesn’t sell the Coastal Bend as an outstanding place for international commerce, the region’s other assets will.
“We have an international airport and a community that’s business-minded and offers a high standard of living and quality of life,” Perez says.
Because of its location, Corpus Christi is a major trade gateway for Mexico and other parts of Latin America. For example, as allowed by federal regulations, the port exports agricultural products such as poultry, beans and grain to Cuba. But its international trade goes way beyond the Western Hemisphere – to countries as far away as China and Japan.
“I could give hundreds of examples, and some are pretty unique. We bring in wind turbines manufactured in Denmark and distribute them throughout Texas and the Midwest,” Perez says. “They produce clean, renewable energy for power companies.”
From Aluminum to Ibuprofen
Evidence of the global economy is found in various Coastal Bend locales, including these businesses: Air Liquide (industrial and medical gases), Gulf Marine Fabricators (industrial and marine construction) and De Dietrich Process Systems (glass-lined pressure vessels), all from France; Elementis Chromium and TT Electronics from the United Kingdom; Celanese (chemicals, plastics and ibuprofen) from Germany; Sherwin Alumina from Switzerland; and Horton Automatics (automatic doors) from Japan.
“Sherwin Alumina gets bauxite ore from Jamaica and Africa, where it is mined,” says Gary Basinger, vice president of existing industries for the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. “They extract aluminum oxide from the bauxite ore, and it goes into making aluminum.”
The Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. recruits primary employers – those that bring in 70 percent or more of their revenue from outside a 50-mile radius. “We’re trying to bring in new money to increase the wealth of our area,” Basinger says.
Container Ships on Horizon
Like Perez, Basinger regards the Port of Corpus Christi as the region’s No. 1 business asset.
“The ship channel connects us to the world and makes us an international business center,” he says.
With new developments on the horizon, the port soon will have the capacity to handle more international businesses.
“We don’t do any container business currently, but we’re looking at building a container facility called La Quinta Trade Gateway that will propel us further in our national ranking,” Perez says.
As proposed, the La Quinta Trade Gateway container terminal, to be built on an 1,100-acre site, will provide seamless transfer of cargo, trailers and containers among highway, rail, ferry, coastal and deep-sea conveyances.
“The La Quinta container terminal will bring containers here from all over the world to be loaded and unloaded,” Basinger says.
Meanwhile, the Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor opened in September 2007. The 11.5-mile road and seven-mile rail project will improve access to land along the north side of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
“The Joe Fulton corridor will open up thousands of acres of land for new development,” Perez says.
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Brian McCord
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