b'MAY 15 - JUNE 25, 2023GULF COA ST PORTS 27cationfortheprojectintheterclockwise from Cartagena, omnibus spending bill passedColombia, to SeaPort Mana-by Congress late in 2022. tee,thenacrosstheGulfof ThechanneldeepeningMexicotoPortFreeport, project is a strategic initiativebefore heading south to Vera-for Port Freeport.cruz,Mexico,andreturn-Thefirstdredgingcon- ingtoCartagena.Onthe tractdeepenedthesegmentinaugural voyage, the vessel of the Freeport Harbor Chan- called at the Mexican port of neladjacenttothePortsTuxpan on its way north from VelascoContainerTerminal,Colombia.OceanusLines referred to as Reach 3, to 51X-PressCotopaxi,witha feetmakingwayforlarger,capacity of 1,740 TEUs is the deeper-draftvesselstocallvessel serving the route.Port Freeport. Asecondcontracttop oRt ofC oRpuSC hRiSti , txwidenthenarrowestsec- Although the U.S. econ-tionoftheFreeportHarboromy may be in a tepid spell, Channel to 400 feet (Reach 2that isnt the case for the Port Widening) was completed inofCorpusChristi.Theport April2022improvingnavi- inthefirstquarterof2023 Aerial view of the Port of Freeport, TX gation safety for vessels tran- (Q1-2023)postedarecord siting the channel. tonnage of 49.6 million tons, (GULFcontinued fromingtocompleteandshouldcost about $146 million, withTheportalsohasnewsurpassing the year-over-year page 26) meet the goal of having the$55.8millionremaininginlinerservice.Thenewser- (YOY)periodin2022by Project carriers are the win- full project done by the timevoter-approved bonds to payvice is Oceanus Lines Flor- morethansixmilliontons ners when it comes to orderstheportcelebratesits100ththeportsshare.U.S. ArmyidaGulfExpress(FGX),andinchingpasttheprevi-inthissegment.Mid-sizedanniversaryin2025.TheCorp of Engineers (USACE)initiallyfortnightly(every(GULFcontinued on MPVs with low crane capac- finalphaseisestimatedtoreceived a $90.6 million allo- twoweeks),operatescoun- page 28)ityhavenotmadeittothe orderbook for over two years. Stiefel says seaborne trade offorestproductsincreased stronglyin2022and2023. Forestproductsisadiverse group of commodities, rang-ingfrompulpandpaperto logs, with every type of wood in between.p oRtf ReepoRt , txA great deal has been hap-pening in Freeport. Starting back in October of 2022,when Volk-swagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA)announcedPort Freeportasthenewmajor Gulf Coast hub for its future vehiclelogisticsportopera-tions,incollaborationwith Port Freeport and developer PRP and KDC. With a 20-year lease agreement,VWofAmerica aims to improve vehicle logis-tics efficiency further and to increaseimportationcapaci-ties to serve nearly 300 deal-ers in the United States. The new port facilities are set to be operational in early 2024.PortFreeportro/rocar-riers calling the port include Hoegh Autoliners,Glovis,Lib-ertyGlobalLogistics,Sallaum andGrimaldiLines,Port FreeportsresidentOEM TerminalOperatorandpart-ner Amports.OnApril25ththePort ofFreeportandDoleFresh Fruit, celebrated 40 years of partnership.Doleexpanded their operations to Port Free-port in April 1983. In 2021, Doledeployedthenewly builtDOLEAZTECand DOLE MAYA container ves-selstotheirGulfExpress service calling Port Freeport. In 2022, Dole supplied over 10.5MM boxes of bananas to North America through Port Freeport.Theportisalsointhe process of finishing the wid-eninganddeepeningofthe PortFreeportShipChan-nel. The work is expected to startthissummer,willtake 700to800daysofdredg-'