Posted on January 22, 2025
HOUSTON –Ports in Houston and New Orleans were closed on Tuesday because of winter weather and are likely to remain closed through Wednesday.
Port Houston closed all facilities on Tuesday, and they will remain closed through Wednesday because of a winter storm that brought snow and icy conditions to the region.
Container terminal truck gates closed Monday afternoon and vessel operations were suspended later that evening.
“We potentially will resume vessel operations at the container terminals on Wednesday evening, if conditions allow,” port officials said around midday on Wednesday.
Port Houston has committed to opening gates at 7 am on Saturday to assist customers with ingate closing at 5 pm.
At Port NOLA in Louisiana, a freeze plan was enacted on Sunday that halted water flow to terminals, which is expected to resume on Wednesday.
The New Orleans terminal said it was closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr holiday.
“We will determine opening the gates on Saturday, 25 January once the weather has passed,” terminal operators said.
Container and breakbulk operations at Ports America are closed today and on Wednesday.
Port Freeport said it expects vessel activity to be limited on Tuesday because of the weather.
Port Houston is the busiest port in vessel and barge movements and the largest US port by tonnage, with more than 200 docks and 270 facilities.
It is also the top US port for petroleum and the fifth largest container port in terms of TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in 2022.
The port is also home to the largest petrochemical manufacturing complex in the nation.
Container ships and costs for shipping containers are relevant to the chemical industry because while most chemicals are liquids and are shipped in tankers, container ships transport polymers, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are shipped in pellets.
They also transport liquid chemicals in isotanks.
