Infrastructure

Sea

Texas' 624 miles of coastline are dotted with more than 970 public and private wharves, piers, and docks handling waterborne freight. In 2008, more than 473 million tons of commodities moved through these channels. With the deepening of the Panama Canal and the expected increase in worldwide waterborne trade, Texas waterways are projected to move more than 766 million tons by 2030.

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) is a shallow, man-made waterway connecting ports from St. Marks, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. The 423-mile section bordering Texas is roughly one-third of the waterway's total length and handles 58 percent of the annual waterborne traffic. The waterway has unique transportation advantages in Texas and is an important component of a safe, effective, multimodal transportation system.

Texas has 16 ports along the Gulf Coast, including 12 deep water ports with channels at least 30 feet deep. The Port of Houston is the No. 2 busiest port in the U.S. by total cargo volume and 13th busiest in the world.

The Ports of Corpus Christi and Beaumont rank in the top 10 among all U.S. ports for total cargo volume.