First Section of Houston Ship Channel Expansion Complete
The Houston Ship Channel expansion project, also known as Project 11, continues to make significant progress. Port officials announced that dredging of the first segment extending from Bolivar Roads to Redfish, known as Segment 1A, is complete. The work was completed on schedule and on budget.Project 11’s Segment 1A constitutes eleven and a half miles in the Bay. The expansion of this area is expected to help increase safety, reduce congestion, and improve vessel transit times…
Port Houston's Container Surge Continues
Port Houston recorded its seventh consecutive month of double-digit container volume growth as increased consumer spending continues in the U.S.Container activity for September 2021 was 281,500 TEUs, up 11% compared to the same month last year, the port said. Year-to-date, TEUs are up 16% compared to 2020.Port Houston said its steel imports are also up, increasing 161% this month compared to September 2020 and are up 28% year-to-date. This growth reflects increased activity in the energy industry.
Great Lakes Wins $95 Million Contract for Port of Houston Dredging
The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority met Tuesday in a special meeting to consider the first dredge contract for Project 11, the Houston Ship Channel billion-dollar expansion and deepening program.Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC was awarded up to $95,375,349 to dredge 11½-miles of the 52-mile channel, widening a major portion of the Galveston Bay reach from 530 to 700 feet. The work includes the construction of a new bird island and oyster mitigation.Port Houston negotiated multiple options and selected the approach with the most reduction in overall NOx emissions…
USCG Lifts Matagorda Safety Zone, Response Ongoing
Oil spill responders from the Matagorda Incident Command Post in Port O’Connor, Texas, continue to implement their aggressive plans, Friday, intended to protect environmentally sensitive areas of the Matagorda Bay area against any impact from a portion of the oil spilled in Saturday’s ship-barge collision near Texas City, Texas. Effective at 10 a.m. today, the U.S. Coast Guard has lifted the safety zone, which had been in effect for the Matagorda Ship Channel from the sea buoy to the intersection of the ship channel with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway…
British Antarctic Survey Chooses Invsat Networking
Invsat Ltd., the U.K.-based telecommunications systems integrator, has been awarded a prestigious contract to provide network communications for the British Antarctic Survey in one of the world’s most challenging environments. The VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) network is connected via the NSS-7 satellite to Invsat’s earth station based at its Aberdeenshire HQ. Stabilized C-Band VSAT systems are being deployed on the two ice-strengthened Royal Research Ships that support the British Antarctic Survey's operations in the region. The two vessels are the RRS James Clark Ross, which has some of Britain's most advanced facilities for oceanographic research, and the RRS Ernest Shackleton which is primarily a logistics ship, used for the re-supply of the Survey's stations.
