Smith: Expanding turning basin would allow Port of Harlingen to take container-on-barge cargo

HARLINGEN, TEXAS – The top project at the Port of Harlingen is expanding the turning basin by about 700 feet on both sides of the ship channel.

If this happened there would be host of new opportunities, says Port Director Walker Smith, including going after the lucrative container-on-barge business.

Smith gave an update on Port activities during a panel discussion at the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s recent Commercialization and Investment Tour. It was hosted by Harlingen Economic Development Corporation and held at Texas State Technical College-Harlingen.

Smith started by explaining that the Port of Harlingen is a shallow draft port located east of the city of Harlingen. He said it mostly handles fuel, agricultural products, fertilizers and aggregates.

Asked by Harlingen EDC Chief Operating Officer Beverly Ticer Loftus to list some of the Port of Harlingen’s top projects, Smith said:

“One of the big projects that we’re working on right now is we’re engaged in a Cap 107 study with the Army Corps of Engineers. We’re looking to expand our turning basin by about 700 feet on both sides of the channel.

“Once that is complete and we get a favorable response by the Army Corps of Engineers from the study… we will begin building out the bulkhead and new dock space for that expansion as well.”

Smith said the project is vitally important.

“We’ve had almost a 200% growth in commodities since 2017. And so, with that growth in commodities obviously comes a growth in vessel calls. We’ve had about a 150% increase in vessel calls to the Port of Harlingen. And we’re still doing that with infrastructure that was built in the 1950s,” Walker said.

“So, our infrastructure is very outdated at the Port of Harlingen. The growth that we’ve been seeing came on very, very quickly. So, we’re looking to expand that turning basin to help facilitate that growth as well as take on new opportunities. Some of those new opportunities could possibly be a container-on-barge service.”

Smith said that in 2018 the Port of Harlingen received designation from the Maritime Administration to apply for grants to create a container-on-barge service.

“We wouldn’t be able to do that without this expansion of the turning basin. And so, we’re looking at doing that. That’s probably our biggest project that we’ve got going on right now.”

File photo: Walker Smith

Smith also spoke of other projects in the works.

“We have a $4 million dollar grant that we were awarded in 2022. Currently, we’re working through the grant agreement phase of that with Maritime Administration to upgrade and update our main cargo dock. One section of that dock is a catastrophic failure.”

Smith said the plan is to completely redo the dock, rip it out and replace all the hardware underneath.

Smith explained that Harlingen ship channel is 26 miles long from the Port to the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado, situated at the Gulf Intercostal Waterway.

“It takes about six hours for that cargo to traverse from the mouth of the Arroyo into the turning basin. And it’s a one-way channel, so having fleeting areas along the way would help us. It would help make traffic much more efficient, allowing cargo to get to the dock sooner and also make for safer trips down the Arroyo for the vessels.”

Smith said the Port would also like to expand its rail operations.

“We recently started looking at expanding… we have about 3,700 feet of rail at the Port of Harlingen, and it is in dire need of upgrade. Last year we upgraded about 1,200 feet of that track. We’re going to be looking to upgrade the rest, (about) 1,900 feet (of track).”

Smith said that in 2019, the Port conducted a strategic master plan.

“One of the things that we found with our SWAT analysis was that one of our real weaknesses was rail. We just didn’t have the rail infrastructure to be able to facilitate (additional business).

“And so, we’re going to be looking to build out on rail. In our master plan, it’s a $30 million project that we’re going to be looking to build out. We’ll be doing that in phases.”

Phase One, Smith said, is approximately a $12.5 million dollar investment.

“We’ll be looking at state funds or federal funds to help us with that expansion as well. So, those are some of the things that we’ve got going on.”

Later in the panel discussion, Smith was asked what he would do if he was given a magic wand for use at the Port. His answer: build a larger turning basin.

“The larger turning basin means more opportunities for us to be able to receive that (big box) cargo and handling cargo for those investments and those businesses coming to the border.

“So, the turning basin would be huge because it opens us up to expanding our trading base. It opens us up to being able to handle many more opportunities and much more cargo for this area, which in turn means jobs and rooftops and everything else.”

Smith added: “(An expanded) turning basin would be fantastic if we could do it. So, we just need our federal government to say ‘yes’.”

Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of Walker Smith’s remarks at the RGV Partnership-Harlingen EDC event:

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