Container flows in May increased in Houston, while movements of crude oil declined at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Port Houston sees gains in containers, steel movements
Port Houston handled 381,640 twenty-foot equivalent units in May, a 5% year-over-year increase compared to the same month in 2024.
Year-to-date container volumes are up 4% to 1.8 million TEUs compared to the same period in 2024.
“Shippers remain positive about Port Houston as their gateway of choice, even with the volatility in the market and everything that’s been going on in recent days,” Ryan Mariacher, chief port operations officer, said during a monthly commission meeting on Tuesday. “May was a solid month after a really strong March and April.”
Rina Lawrence, economic development manager at Port Houston, said the port continues to attract global shippers.
“We continue to see strong interest from companies — from domestic and international companies — who continue to explore opportunities to locate or expand their operations in Houston, more specifically along the Houston Ship Channel,” Lawrence said during the commission meeting. “[Port Houston] is actively engaged with multiple prospects, including manufacturing and clean energy projects, many of which are driven by nearshoring, or reshoring trends in trade.”
General import cargo at Port Houston was up 1% year-over-year in May at 609,341 tons.
Steel imports decreased 4% year-over-year to 420,610 tons, while steel exports dropped 40% year-over-year to 39,400 tons.
Full import and export containers in May both increased 1% year-over-year at 166,005 TEUs and 132,900 TEUs, respectively.
Movements of empty export containers were up 12% year-over-year in May to 18,358 TEUs. Empty import container movements at the port were up 23% year-over-year to 64,377 TEUs in the month.
The port totaled 697 vessel calls in May, a 2% decrease from last year. Barge calls at the port totaled 297 during the month, a 5% decrease compared to May 2024.
Mariacher said the port has been tracking blank sailings, but does not forecast any drastic changes to vessel traffic in the next several months.
In shipping, a blank sailing (also known as a cancelled sailing) refers to a situation where a scheduled voyage or port call is canceled by a shipping carrier.
“We’re up to 13 [blank sailings] as of today on our schedules, but the good news is, eight of those have passed with five to come,” Mariacher said. “In spite of this, our mid-June volumes look pretty strong, much stronger than we forecasted, with a pretty strong surge in our export volume leading the charge at this point.”
Port of Corpus Christi posts gains in crude oil, dry bulk goods
The Port of Corpus Christi moved 16.98 million tons of cargo in May, a 3% year-over-year decrease from the same month in 2024.
The port handled 10.6 million tons of crude oil during the month, a 9% year-over-year decrease. Exports of crude oil for the month totaled 9.9 million tons, a 7.4% decline from last year.
Shipments of petroleum totaled 5.37 million tons during May, a 15.2% year-over-year increase. Exports of petroleum totaled 4.34 million tons for the month, a 14.5% increase from the same month last year.
Dry bulk cargo slipped 3% year-over-year to 705,345 tons, while chemical cargo volumes totaled 255,084 tons in May, a 6% year-over-year fall from the same month in 2024.
Breakbulk cargo movements in May totaled 46,205 tons, a 21% year-over-year decline.
The Port of Corpus Christi had 190 ship calls for the month, a 1% year-over-year decrease in ship calls compared to last year. Barge calls in May totaled 469, a 27% year-over-year increase.
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