On Friday, December 6thm officials for the Brownsville Navigation District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) held a groundbreaking ceremony for phase two of the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement (BIH) Project.
The Brownsville Ship Channel at the Port of Brownsville is located in South Texas.
The BIH project will deepen the ship channel from its current 42 feet to 52 feet. The deepening aims to enable the 17-mile ship channel to accommodate larger, heavier cargo vessels.
The port is about 277 miles south of San Antonio at the southernmost tip of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. It is the only deep-water seaport along the border, making it a major trade channel between Texas and Mexico.
The BIH project, which totals almost $600 million, is funded via a public-private partnership among USACE, the Port of Brownsville, and NextDecade Corp., the parent company of Rio Grande LNG.
Phase two of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2026.
NextDecade is constructing the Rio Grande liquefied natural gas plant at the channel’s entrance near South Padre Island.
Source: .swg.usace.army.mi
