Port Houston has handled 370,034 TEUs in January, the biggest January container volume on record and a 4 per cent increase from the same month last year.
The increase in containers was driven by gains in both loaded imports and loaded exports moving through the Houston Ship Channel, with each up 5 per cent compared to January last year.
Import volumes remained steady across multiple sectors, while export growth continued to be led by petrochemical products and resins that make up a significant share of outbound containers.
Port Houston handles about 60 per cent of US resin exports, and that share is expected to grow as additional packaging capacity comes online.
Phase I of Packwell’s new 725,000-square-foot resin packaging facility near Port Houston’s Bayport Container Terminal was recently completed.
The facility features direct rail access to unload hopper cars and includes high-speed packaging equipment, along with warehousing and transload capabilities adjacent to the marine terminal complex.
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The added capacity is expected to reduce costs and strengthen connectivity to Port Houston’s global network of carrier services.
In addition to growth in resin exports, refrigerated imports and exports moving through Port Houston are also trending upwards.
Refrigerated container traffic at the Port rose 13 per cent in 2025, supported by established cold-chain infrastructure and US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) cold-treatment certification.
This approval allows Port Houston to receive shipments that complete the prescribed cold-treatment process while in transit, improving supply chain efficiency and expanding access to key perishable commodities.
Charlie Jenkins, CEO of Port Houston, said: “We’re seeing solid demand across both of our public container terminals and a wide range of cargo moving through the Houston gateway.
“That demand is showing up across our operations, including a record single-day total of 16,438 truck transactions at our container terminals in January. Vessel movements along the Houston Ship Channel are also off to a steady start this year, with arrivals up 2 per cent.”
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Elsewhere across the port’s public terminals, cargo performance was mixed. Steel imports declined 35 per cent to 213,653 short tonnes in January, reflecting broader trends tied to lower drilling activity as measured by the Baker Hughes rig count.
General cargo volumes increased 27 per cent in January. Across all cargo categories, Port Houston handled 4.5 million short tonnes for the month, a 6 per cent increase compared to January last year.
Earlier this year, Kaleris completed a multi-phase deployment of its RTG Optimisation (RTG-O) solution at Port Houston, which operates two of the nation’s busiest container terminals.
For more information:
Port Houston – https://porthouston.com/
