The first phase of the Port of Galveston's estimated $90 million expansion and improvement of its West Port Cargo Complex began in 2024 when crews from Texas Gulf Construction Co. Inc. (TGC) and Orion Marine Services started to enclose and fill a slip at Pier 38/39.
Grant Mackay Demolition Co. also is working there, handling the demolition of a grain elevator.
The Galveston Wharves board of trustees approved a $29.9 million construction contract on April 23, 2024. The port is funding the project with cash reserves, largely generated from cruise operations, according to Galveston Wharves Port Director and CEO Rodger Rees.
This work will be funded with a $36 million state grant and $14.1 million in port reserves.
When all the work is done, the port will have a new 1,426-ft.-long berth from Pier 38/39 to Pier 40/41. All work should be completed in 2026. Future phases will include paving and other improvements.
Victor Pierson, Galveston Wharves board of trustees chairman, is pleased the project is under way.
"This is the first time in decades that the port has made an investment of this size in our docks," he said. "It demonstrates our commitment to a diversified revenue stream and to jobs growth by executing our 20-year Strategic Master Plan."
Port Director Rodger Rees stressed the importance of upgrading and modernizing the port and its facilities.
"We're working the plan, and the plan is working," he said. "As we continue to develop our cruise business, we're generating cash reserves to fund long-neglected cargo infrastructure. It's a great day in the port's nearly 200-year history when we can invest almost $100 million to build up our waterfront. Since my arrival in Galveston, I've said frequently in neighborhood and community presentations that we have to leverage the cruise business to rebuild our cargo.
"Our fourth cruise terminal, opening in November 2025, will bring in an estimated $10-14 million a year in additional revenues and hundreds of jobs," he added. "We'll use these revenues, along with grants, to continue to improve our aged cargo infrastructure."
The port has other projects on the way.
Rees said the land will be used for cargo handling and lay down, and the port plans to use concrete rubble from the demolition as a fill source for the slips.
"In all, the port will add almost 40 acres to its West Port cargo area by filling the two slips and demolishing the near-century-old grain elevator," a port press release said.
Grant Mackay Demolition began its operations to demolish the decommissioned grain elevator at Pier 30/33 in 2024 and expects to be finished in 2025.
The operation to demolish the more than 70-ft. tall, rectangular-shaped concrete grain elevator started at one end and is proceeding to the other.
Thick walls are being cracked by large Volvo excavators that can be extended to reach close to 50 ft. The elevator is fenced in, providing plenty of space for two excavators to work in tandem to take down the silos one-by-one.
The debris is promptly removed and placed on loaders to be shipped away.
The Port of Galveston, located at the entrance to Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel, is experiencing a boom, with more cargo being received and shipped out.
"In 2024 the port moved more than 3.4 million tons of cargo, including bulk liquid, bulk fertilizer, roll-on/roll-off [ro-ro] cargos, breakbulk, wind turbine pieces and other project cargos," according to a port press release. "As the port shifts away from grain and fresh fruit, it is expanding the handling of wind turbine pieces and ro-ro cargo, including new cars. In 2023, the port expanded its foreign trade zone [FTZ] in the West Port Cargo Complex to import hundreds of wind turbine pieces in 2024."
The increase in business requires upgraded facilities. This, according to Rees, translates into adding "acreage, improving infrastructure and expanding its FTZ will allow the port to meet tenant demand to grow their ro-ro, project cargo and breakbulk cargo businesses."
Port officials said they are working closely with tenants to minimize impacts to cargo operations as construction progresses.
The 840-acre port serves growing cruise, cargo and commercial businesses. It is the fourth-most popular cruise home port in the United States.
Forty-five minutes from open water, it leases and maintains a wide range of cargo facilities on the deep-water Galveston Harbor, which is ranked among the 40 busiest U.S. cargo waterways, based on cargos handled at public and private docks.
