WASHINGTON: A unique niche in serving Mexican manufacturers has helped the Port of Brownsville, Texas, avoid the downturn in steel volumes that has affected other US ports. Brownsville sits at the southern tip of Texas and serves as a gateway for breakbulk shipments of steel destined for manufacturing plants across the Rio Grande in Mexico. It’s a steady business that hasn’t been hit by soft demand or antidumping duties. Last year the port handled about 3.3 short tons of steel, mostly slabs. This year’s volume is expected to hit 3.4 million or 3.5 million tons, said Steve Tyndall, the port’s senior director of marketing and business development. Despite questions that the recent presidential election has raised about the future of US-Mexico trade, Brownsville officials foresee no letup in steel volumes. “We don’t see it diminishing. We see it growing,” Tyndall said. The port handled 10 ships laden with steel slabs in October, and expects to receive another half-dozen or more by year end.
Slabs are trucked to the Monterrey area via a heavy-lift corridor from the port that allows vehicles to match the 125,000-pound maximum gross weight limit permitted on Mexican highways, or move by railcar. Though slabs dominate steel volume at Brownsville, the port also handles steel coils for Mexican and US customers, including a coil-slitting operation in Mission, Texas. Other general cargoes at Brownsville include aluminum, lumber, wind energy components, and project shipments. Wind energy shipments have become important cargoes at several ports in Texas, which has more electricity-producing wind farms than any other state. Brownsville has completed three wind project movements this year, and has at least two lined up for 2017.
To provide more laydown space for blades and other windmill components, this year the port expanded a 16-acre storage yard to 26 acres. The port has handled some windmill blades as long as 223 feet, although most are about 165 feet. Brownsville also is targeting project shipments. Last year the port added a second heavy-lift dock and took delivery of a 125-ton-capacity mobile crane that can be used in tandem with an older 100-ton model. Though low oil prices have slowed development of energy-related projects, several potential projects remain in planning or permitting stages, including three liquefied natural gas projects that are awaiting federal permits, and a proposed $2.1 billion offshore natural pipeline between Brownsville and Tuxpan, Mexico.