WASHINGTON: Port of Victoria officials will begin upgrading the port’s road infrastructure in the first quarter of this year to stay competitive for large industrial projects. Although a multibillion-dollar project proposed by Exxon Mobil in partnership with Saudi Arabia Basic Industries appears to be headed for San Patricio County, Victoria County is not out of the picture yet. Victoria County is one of four sites being considered for the project. Port of Victoria officials want the port to be ready for future projects – if not this one, then others, said Skip Kaup, port executive director. “Any business that is looking basically at any location is always checking to see what the infrastructure is and how it is set up – how easy it is to access to the property,” Kaup said. Four roads will be upgraded over an 18-month period, increasing accessibility to the south side of the port, where the plant would be located if Victoria County is chosen, Kaup said. The roads will be two-lane with shoulders. Most of the existing roads are narrow and in need of an update, said Mike Sizemore, port spokesman. “We’re upgrading, so that development on the south side, if you have a new industrial complex down there, trucks can access it easier,” he said. If San Patricio County lands the multibillion-dollar plant, the Port of Corpus Christi will be used for it, said Jarl Pedersen, Port of Corpus Christi chief commercial officer. “Our deep ship channel is the biggest difference between our port and the Port of Victoria,” Pedersen said.
The ship channel is 45 feet deep, but Port of Corpus Christi officials plan to start dredging the channel to 52 feet deep this year, Pedersen said. The Port of Victoria shallow draft barge canal is 35 miles long and has the same dimensions as the Intracoastal Waterway, a 3,000-mile inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, Sizemore said. The barge canal connects to the waterway and is 12 feet deep and 125 feet wide. Deepening the canal is not feasible because it would cost billions of dollars, Kaup said. “This is one of those things that we would want if we had the perfect world, but it’s not feasible, and it’s not the perfect world,” he said. Other factors that make it difficult are the time it would take, the permitting process and opposition that would form from the Port of Houston and Port of Corpus Christi, Sizemore said. “There are a million reasons why it’s not a discussion to get into,” he said. On the other hand, it is possible for the turning basin at the port to be upgraded, but there are no current plans for that, Sizemore said. Last year, port officials considered updating the basin for a potential client. “Every project has their own specific needs, and Port of Victoria commissioners are business-friendly and wanting to work with companies to make sure that those needs are met,” he said. The Port of Victoria is well positioned for another major project if Victoria County does not land the Exxon plant, Sizemore said.
Exxon officials have told Victoria officials that worldwide companies are planning more than 250 major industry projects. Because Victoria County is being considered for the Exxon plant and the Port of Victoria is the proposed location, other projects are just on the horizon for the port, Sizemore said. “People around the world know about the Texas coast and Port of Victoria when it comes to possible locations for their projects,” he said. The infrastructure project is under the Port of Victoria County Navigation District, which received a grant of about $2.9 million from the Texas Department of Transportation in 2016, Kaup said. The port matched the grant by 25 percent, about $1 million, for total project funding of about $3.8 million. The Texas government historically has not had grant programs for ports, but during the last interim session, government officials started to revisit their importance, Sizemore said. State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst was on the Senate Select Committee on Texas Ports during the interim legislative session. Texas ports are responsible for more than 30 percent of the state’s economy, according to the committee’s report. “Texas ports are the lifeblood of our state’s economy,” Kolkhorst said. “As a border and coastal state, Texas plays a central role in the flow of goods in and out of the central United States and across the world.” The Port of Victoria helped allow the oil and gas industry to grow at a record pace by making sure those operations had the materials they needed, she said.
