Posted on June 13, 2025
Thanks to support by congressmen Randy Weber, Mike Collins and many Port of Galveston partners, Galveston Harbor has received critical maintenance dredging funding for Fiscal Year 2025. Congressman Weber announced recently that Congress approved $47,975,000 in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget for Galveston Harbor and the entrance channel to Galveston Bay.
This may be the largest federal amount ever budgeted for Galveston Harbor and entrance channel maintenance work. I believe this reflects the recognition of the critical importance of our maritime operations and of our unified voice in Washington, D.C.
The port, as federal sponsor for the harbor, led the effort to secure the funding, with strong support from private operator Texas International Terminals, the Galveston-Texas City Pilots Association, leadership at the Corps’ Galveston District, and countless other port partners who wrote support letters.
The funding includes maintenance dredging to bring the harbor to its federally authorized depth of 46 feet and work on the Corps’ San Jacinto dredge spoils placement area on the far east end of the island to store the additional spoils. It also includes entrance channel dredging, which benefits the ports of Galveston, Texas City and Houston.
Our harbor accommodates large ships, from 34-foot-draft cruise ships and car carriers up to 44-foot-draft liquid bulk carriers. The federally owned portion in the middle of the harbor must be dredged regularly to remove the silt that naturally builds up and reduces depths.
But rarely has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received enough federal funding to maintain the full depth. Once funded, federal red tape can delay projects.
Without ongoing maintenance, shoaling quickly builds up, limiting depths, constricting commerce and threatening jobs. This has the biggest impacts on deep-draft cargo carriers, like those that call on private terminals in the harbor.
In 2024, we asked for $48 million and received nothing for harbor maintenance. As a result, the harbor has been draft-restricted to 40 feet, causing some cargo ships to divert from terminals on our harbor to other ports. This has resulted in a loss of revenues and jobs.
The statewide economic value of cargo operations at public and private marine terminals on Galveston Harbor totaled $6.5 billion in 2023. These operations generated 19,000 Texas jobs, $1.6 billion in personal income, $5.5 billion in business revenue and output, $210 million in local purchases, and $123 million in state and local taxes.
The Port of Galveston moved 3.6 million tons of cargo in 2023, generating jobs of union workers, stevedores, ship pilots, and truck drivers, to name a few. The port’s diversified range of cargos includes bulk liquid, bulk fertilizer, roll-on/roll-off cargo, new cars, and wind turbine components.
Private terminal operators accounted for roughly 10 million tons of liquid and dry bulk cargos transported by deep-draft vessel, train and truck.
We’ll take a moment to celebrate this victory but will continue to advocate for funding and streamlined, timely implementation of dredging projects.
