Texas’ Port of Brownsville secures US$43 million loan for channel dredging

The Port of Brownsville in Texas has secured a low interest US$43 million loan from the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) for the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement (BIH) project.

At the Texas Transportation Commission’s most recent regular meeting, the commission approved a US$43 million Ship Channel Improvement Revolving Fund (SCIRF) loan to provide the Port of Brownsville revenue for its local share of qualified costs necessary to deepen the Brazos Island Harbor Channel.

The BIH project will deepen the 17-mile (27-kilometre) Brownsville Ship Channel from 42 feet (13 metres) to 52 feet (16 metres), enhancing navigational safety for larger commercial vessels to access South Texas.

The BIH project, comprised of two phases, is funded through the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Public-Private Partnership (P3) with the Port of Brownsville and NextDecade Corporation, Rio Grande LNG’s parent company.

In 2019, NextDecade announced an agreement with the Brownsville Navigation District to pay 100 per cent of phase one of the deepening project from the western boundary of its lease site along the ship channel to the entrance of the channel, as well as the development of two ship berths and a turning basin for its Rio Grande LNG facility.

The Port of Brownsville and the USACE will execute phase two, which will deepen the channel from the turning basin area to Rio Grande LNG’s site. In March 2022, the federal government announced the allocation of US$68 million for phase two, provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Appropriations Law.

In August 2024, the USACE’s Galveston District awarded a contract in the amount of US$104 million to Callan Marine for phase two of the BIH project. Work is scheduled to begin October 2024 with an estimated completion date of June 2026.