Top 50 Global Container Ports
Special Report
Rule of thirds
Port of Houston fast tracks plan for new container terminal
By Michael Angell
Houston is eyeing a 318-acre site on Spilman Island( pictured) for its third container terminal.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
The Barbours Cut terminal is also undergoing a series of renovation projects through 2028 that include strengthening two of its berths and installing larger cranes for super-post-Panamax ships.
At full buildout, the Bayport and Barbours Cut will have nominal capacity for handling 8 million TEUs per year. Casey said the third terminal, which will be delivered in phases, would be able to handle 4 million TEUs at full capacity.
“ We have the capacity right now, and we’ ve already started construction to double the capacity at our current terminals,” Casey said.“ We’ re not in a rush, but at the same time, we can’ t rest on our laurels.”
“ In 10 years, we’ re going to want to have phase one of the [ third ] terminal built,” he added.“ We’ re looking at potentially around a 4 million-TEU terminal.”
In the first half of 2026, Houston handled a record-high 583,388 TEUs of containerized imports from Asia, up 13.1 % year over year and 10.6 % from the previous record set in 2024, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global.
Going deeper
The Port of Houston is doing early work on what would be its third container terminal, a development the port says will be needed in a decade and will eventually triple its total handling capacity.
A group of federal agencies that includes the US Army Corps of Engineers designated the Barbours Cut North Expansion project submitted by the Port of Houston Authority as eligible for expedited review under a 2015 permitting law known as the FAST Act in early July.
The project would encompass 318 acres at a site on Spilman Island, a dredge placement site, to the north of the existing Barbours Cut terminal. Port of Houston’ s Chief Operating Officer Eric Casey told the Journal of Commerce the permit application would allow POHA to do geotechnical and design work on Spilman Island for a third container terminal.
Spilman Island is just one site the port is considering for its third container terminal, Casey said, adding the location still requires commercial review. While the third terminal will not be needed for a decade, work needs to start now to be ready for future volume growth, he said.
“ Our terminal three is in the advanced planning because we know we are going to continue to grow,” Casey said.
Future planning for a third container terminal comes amid the ongoing $ 2 billion development of Houston’ s two existing terminals. In March, Houston began the third phase of expansion of its Bayport container terminal, which handles most of the trans-Pacific Asia services coming into the Gulf Coast.
That expansion, which will add two new berths to Bayport— allowing it to handle five super-post-Panamax ships simultaneously— along with another 100 acres of yard space, is set to be completed by 2028.
Casey said the third terminal should be ready around the time Houston expects it to have begun dredging its main ship channel down to a big ship depth of 55 feet, or possibly more.
In October 2025, the port completed its portion of the work on Project 11, the three-year project to widen the Houston Ship Channel to allow for easier two-way vessel traffic, and to dredge portions of the channel down to a 46-foot depth.
While depth restrictions and sporadic shoaling limit full loading of a ship in Houston, Project 11 has allowed more large ships to call the port in recent months. Through the first half of 2026, nine container ships over 10,000 TEU in capacity have called Houston, according to Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce. That compares to four in the second half of 2025.
Houston trans-Pacfic import growth outpacing market
Containerized imports from Asia among the top 10 US ports, in laden TEUs, with year-over-year change
Los Angeles
Long Beach
NY-NJ Savannah Houston
Los Angeles NSA
Oakland
Virginia Charleston Baltimore
Source: PIERS, S & P Global
0 %
0.2 %
1.7 %
-6.3 %
-15.1 %
13.1 %
4.1 %
0 1,000,000 L 2,000,000
5 %
H1 2026 H1 2025
2.1 %
6.6 %
© 2026 S & P Global
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20 Journal of Commerce | August 3, 2026 www. joc. com