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volumes. The Port of San Diego also ranked low, 105 out of 111 U.S. ports,
however, in 1999 the Port of San Diego handled approximately 172,000 more
short tons of cargo than the Port of Brownsville.
Table E.6 U.S. Ports Ranked by Total Cargo Volume, 1999
Rank Port Short Tons
2 Houston, TX 158,828,203
5 Corpus Christi, TX 77,986,587
6 Beaumont, TX 69,405,951
15 Texas City, TX 49,502,557
24 Freeport, TX 28,076,004
52 Galveston, TX 10,335,825
55 Matagorda, TX 9,077,589
74 Victoria, TX 5,521,873
105 San Diego, CA 2,659,072
110 Brownsville, TX 2,486,839
Source: American Association of Port Authorities, 2000
Port Developments
In May 2002, the Port of Brownsville installed a new $2.5 million 164-foot
multipurpose Gottwald Mobile Harbor Crane capable of lifting 100 metric tons.
The new crane has the capacity to averages 25 container moves per hour
accommodating 20-45 foot containers from barges up to Panama Canal size
vessels. 4 “Basically, the new crane allows us to cut the unloading time of a
freight in half and greatly reduce turn-around-time for the deep-sea cargo lines,”
said German Rico, director of container services marketing for the port.
Increased shipments have led to added staffing to the more than 2,000
employees associated with the port and its lessees. 5 Additional port
improvements are the 120,000 square foot Dock 15 Warehouse scheduled for
completion by July 2002, and deepening the ship channel to 55 feet. 6
The Port of Brownsville has embarked on an endeavor to create a land bridge via
railway to the Port of Lazaro Cardenas located on the Pacific Ocean in Mexico.
The direct port-to-port land bridge will be facilitated by rail connections utilizing
existing railways (Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railroad [BRG] railway
and Mexico’s Grupo Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. [TFM]
railway). The land bridge will allow cargo from the Pacific to be transported by
intermodel connections to the Port of Brownsville, thereby, competing with the
well-established Long Beach to Houston land bridge. 7
Port of Harlingen
The port is located four miles east of Harlingen, Texas on Highway 106. It is 25
miles west of Mile Marker 646 on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that stretches
along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Mexican border at Brownsville,
Texas, to St. Marks, Florida. The Harlingen channel is maintained to a width of
4 Phone interview with German Rico, Marketing Director (container services), Port of Brownsville, by
Richard J. Rodarte, June 6, 2002.
5 Dwayne Hartnett, Port gets a powerhouse, New $2.5 million crane expected to boost business at
Port of Brownsville, The Brownsville Herald, May 30, 2002.
6 Ibid.
7 Interview with Tony Rodriquez, Marketing Director, Port of Brownsville, by Richard J. Rodarte, March,
2002.
xv.