21st Century Moves Through Port of Corpus Christi
Published Aug 14, 2009
The Port of Corpus Christi is on track to generate an impressive $5 billion in direct investment over the next four years for the Coastal Bend region, says John LaRue, the port’s executive director.
With a new $3.5 billion power plant in the planning stages on a 100-acre PCC-owned site and almost $1 billion in new terminal projects and various transportation improvements, the port is seeing its share of growth and activity – even in the current economic downturn.
“We have a tremendous opportunity with alternative energies, especially wind turbines,” LaRue says.
“Texas is the real wind energy funnel for the United States, and the port has been loading these types of towers since 2006,” says Sandy Sanders, deputy port director for business development and operations.
“Our stevedore services are experts in all things wind turbine, and we have partnered very well with our rail trucking firms. They are all equipped with getting these turbines from the port to their destinations safely and efficiently.”
The port is changing its infrastructure to accommodate these loads, which will include the exportation of pipes made by a nearby Chinese pipe manufacturer.
“The La Quinta Terminal started out as a container terminal,” LaRue explains. “But as we got into the economic downturn and container trades declined, we saw it wasn’t going to work strictly as a container terminal. When the Chinese plant is completed by the end of the year, we will be handling pipe and the wind turbines. We expect to see 500 to 700 jobs related to that terminal in warehousing and handling, trucking and rail.”
Also on the drawing board is a new dry bulk terminal funded by a private sector investment approaching $100 million. Economic stimulus funds are being used to complete the Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor, which opens up the north side of the port for development of roughly 1,000 acres of land that previously had no transportation access.
“The potential for this investment is incredible,” LaRue says. Proposals have been submitted for additional stimulus funds to build a new rail yard in the same area, which will enable the port to further expand its capability in the area of handling alternative energy resources.
The Naval Station Ingleside closure effective April 30, 2010, means that 500-acre site will revert to the port, and a partnership has been established with Texas A&M to develop those 500 acres plus 500 more into a research and development campus.
“We don’t expect to immediately replace the 3,000 jobs that were lost with the base closure, but we will have great success in replacing those jobs over a period of five to 10 years,” LaRue says.
The future looks very bright for the port and the community it serves, Sanders says.
“We are a powder keg, and we are getting ready to meet a match,” he says. “We are prepared for the explosion.”
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