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Port Houston Secures $25M MARAD Grant

[ December 3, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, or MARAD, has awarded Port Houston one of 11 large Port Infrastructure Development Program grants for projects aimed at enhancing the safety, reliability, and resiliency of ports.
“This important project will improve the efficiency and competitiveness of United States grain exports, improve air quality by reducing dust and truck emissions, and support neighboring communities through stormwater improvements,” said Charlie Jenkins, Port Houston CEO.
Port Houston’s “Agriculture Export Improvement and Community Resilience Project” will focus on the following key areas:
• Replace dated infrastructure to support grain exports by upgrading a grain elevator, as well as install a new high-efficiency grain truck receiving system, a more efficient truck loadout system, and a new outbound conveying system, capable of loading a 30,000-ton vessel with a 75 percent reduction in loading time.
The port said these improvements would increase the grain elevator’s throughput capacity from 700,000 to 2.1 million tons per year and provide an anticipated economic benefit of about US$255 million for the local community. Additionally, the increased capacity would give 1,329 more farms access to global markets and enhance global food security.
• Reduce emissions and dust, largely through eliminating the use of heavy-duty trucks, which have been used to transfer outbound product to ship berth. Removing these trucks from the operation will reduce emissions by an estimated 32 percent or 13,710 tons over 30 years.
A new high efficiency dust collection system will also be installed to replace the existing baghouse system. These improvements, with integrated explosion suppression systems, should operate more efficiently and improve housekeeping, and reduce dust emissions and overall carbon emissions, the port said.
• Support community-led stormwater drainage projects to provide additional stormwater capacity with improved channel outfalls that will allow current and expected stormwater flows to move more efficiently. This project is the first step in updated measures to more efficiently direct stormwater away from homes and public areas, promoting community health and safety.
These planned improvements will be carried out in part with the cooperation of elevator lessee Hansen Metro Elevation, affiliated with Hansen-Mueller Co., a long-time Port Houston user and collaborative participant in this application, and Nautilus International Holding Corp.

Tags: Port Houston