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When we think about issues relating to the transportation infrastructure of our state, our minds often turn to issues such as highways for our automobiles, airports for planes and railway for trains. As North Texans, it is easy for us to forget about a very important aspect of our intermodal transportation system: our seaport system along the Gulf Coast. As vice-chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, I have had the opportunity to study our system of seaports in Texas, and recently have visited the Port of Houston. Although we are not geographically situated near our coast and its ports, we certainly feel the impact that the ports of Texas have on our entire state. Ships carry agricultural products such as wheat, corn, rice, peas, vegetable oils and sorghum from Texas farms and ranches for international export. The U.S. petroleum and chemical industries import and export their product through the Texas ports. Wood products and fertilizers are sent from Texas to nations that do not have our abundant natural resources such as Japan and Taiwan. Fish, shrimp and other seafood reaches Texas consumers through our ports. The list goes on and on. Texas is actually one of the nation's largest maritime states, with a dozen deep-draft ports (deeper than 25 feet and can handle ocean-going vessels) and fifteen shallow-draft ports (less than 25 feet deep and typically handle barge traffic.) Texas ports contribute over $87 billion to the state's economy annually. Almost one million jobs are generated either directly or indirectly due to port activity, representing over $30 billion in personal income for Texans. An average of about 317 million tons of cargo is moved through Texas ports annually, representing about 17% of the total U.S. port tonnage and over 50% of U.S. foreign imports and exports. Marine and intermodal transportation alone accounts for nearly $65 billion, or 10% of the Texas gross state product. Annually, ports bring in almost $5 billion in local and state tax revenue. Texas' ports also have a significant impact on the national economy, bringing in over $9 billion in federal tax revenues each year. The ports of Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Freeport, Houston and Texas City are among the top 25 U.S. ports in tonnage handled. The Port of Houston is the largest container port on the Gulf Coast. An important facet of our system of seaports is the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GIWW), a 1,300 mile man-made canal that runs along the Gulf of Mexico coastline from Brownsville, Texas to St. Marks, Florida. The GIWW allows ocean-going shipping to connect with barge traffic. The Texas portion of the GIWW transports more than 73 million tons of cargo annually, moving in 40,000 barges each year. In comparison, the same cargo would take over three million semi-trailers or over 570,000 rail cars to move. Please feel free to contact me if I may be of assistance to you with any matter of state government. You can contact me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.
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