The ship channel covers a huge part of Eastern Houston, stretching from nearly downtown, to the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston. The channel is 530 feet wide by 45 feet deep, allowing ships to pass one another, but with as much traffic as Houston receives, the port is currently being widened in what’s called Project 11, the 11th widening and deepening project along the port.
Many of the refineries are much larger than Houston’s own downtown area, with the Exxon Mobil refining facility being nearly three times the size!
With over 22,000 ship movements each year and 100,000 vessel movements (barges and tugs), the Port of Houston is the largest port by tonnage in the country. With this much traffic, traffic jams do happen, especially with so many intercoastal waterways joining the channel in various places. Vessels often get priority based on which is more maneuverable, but other factors such as wind, draft, and captain experience also come into play.
In order to move a ship into a dock, you must have a dock available, a tug boat or boats available, a Houston Pilot to drive the ship in, and a team of Line Handlers who secure the ship and help with the unloading of cargo. The journey from one end of the channel to the other end of the channel can take up to 8 hours, depending on where the ship is going to dock.
Docks are paid for the time it takes a ship to unload its cargo so dock owners and ship owners are in a constant push-pull to get a ship in and out as fast as possible. Sometimes, a ship will need to make multiple stops in the Houston channel, but with dock schedules being very tight, a ship will sometimes have to make the journey in and out of the ship channel multiple times in order to complete its loading and unloading. Each time it is moved in and out of the channel, a full complement of logistical employees, a pilot, and tugs are required.
The Houston Ship Channel is open and operating 24/7/365. Only hurricanes and extreme weather events close the channel. Crews work around the clock every day to load, unload, moor, dock, push, pull, drive, and operate each of the ships and barges that come in and out of Houston.
Learn more and visit the exhibit in our gallery!
I am writing a book set during WWII–when in the Navy my father was assigned to Brown Shipbuilding to fit out the USS RICHARD M ROWELL. I am trying to visualize the trip they made down the Houston Ship Channel to the Gulf — what landmarks did they see along the way? (~May 1944) I’ve been trying to locate maps and photos that would point out what could be seen onshore but have had no success. Does your museum have any such holdings, or do you know who might? Your help is very much appreciated.
We have a number of photos of the ship channel around that time, but pinpointing the exact location can sometimes be difficult. We recommend visiting the gallery during open hours for a docent-guided tour. Many of our docents are very familiar with the history of the ship channel and can show you some of the photos from around that time period.
The Rosenberg library on Galveston Island has many great photos.
Also, research Todd shipyard. They built Liberty ships by Greens Bayou and many Naval vessels including the
USS Stewart, one of two destroyer escorts in the world from World War II