BROWNSVILLE, Texas – With the 2018 Gulf shrimp season under way, local shrimpers are hopeful they will not come back with their nets empty despite a continued shortage of workers that plagues the industry.

For the 13th consecutive year, Reverend Mark Watters led the traditional Blessing of the Fleet July 10, at the Port of Brownsville’s fishing harbor. During his sermon, Rev. Watters asked the dozens of people gathered to pray for a bountiful harvest this season and for the well-being of all shrimpers while they are out at sea. The shrimping season began July 16.

The industry continues to battle with a shortage of workers due to the lack of H-2B worker visas issued by the federal government. Andrea Hance, executive director for the Texas Shrimp Association, said for this year there were more than 200,000 visa applicants, but only 66,000 visas were made available for distributi

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The secret is out of the bag for Duro.

The company, a tenant of the Port of Brownsville since 1967, is a premier leader in the paper bag industry with approximately 2.5 billion paper bags manufactured annually for the grocery, retail, convenience and food markets.

“We are a small jewel at the Port of Brownsville,” said Frank Fernandez, plant manager at Duro Bag. “Our mission is to be the preeminent manufacturer of paper bags offering quality, innovative solutions and complete satisfaction to our customer base,” he added.

Duro Bag has a rich history of both manufacturing process creativity and product innovation with several current and pending patents in addition to more than 20 industry trademarks.

Since 2014, the company has been part of the Novolex family, a leading producer of plastic, paper and film products headquartered in Hartsville, Sou

The U.S. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi held a change-of-command ceremony May 5, where Capt. Edward Gaynor relieved Capt. Tony Hahn as commander of the sector.

Capt. Gaynor will now oversee South Texas waterways from the Port of Brownsville to Port Lavaca. His previous assignment was as the chief of incident management, 1st Coast Guard District.

Capt. Hahn was commander of the Corpus Christi sector since 2015. His next assignment is the chief of staff, Coast Guard Pacific Area.

On May 23, Capt. Gaynor paid his first visit to the Port of Brownsville as Captain of the Port and met with local authorities and port officials who briefed him on the port’s current maritime activity.

The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored tradition and deeply rooted in Coast Guard and Naval history. The event signifies a total transfer of responsibility, authority and accou

TransMontaigne Partners L.P. is investing approximately $60 million in terminaling and pipeline expansion projects at its Port of Brownsville facilities, the company announced May 9.

The investment was made possible after securing agreements with third parties for the construction of new facilities in Brownsville for the storage of gasoline, diesel and additives for further transportation by truck and the Diamondback Pipeline to the U.S./Mexico border.

The Diamondback pipeline consists of an 8-inch pipeline that previously transported propane approximately 16 miles from the TransMontaigne facilities in Brownsville to the U.S./Mexico border and a parallel 6-inch pipeline that has been idle and can be used to transport additional refined products.

The company expects the first tanks of the additional storage capacity under construction to be completed and ready for commercial serv

BROWNSVILLE — The United States Coast Guard found the Brownsville Ship Channel to be suitable for marine traffic resulting from Texas LNG’s planned liquefaction terminal at the Port of Brownsville.

In a letter of recommendation issued Feb. 26 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Coast Guard concluded that the waterway is suitable to handle current and anticipated incremental traffic from the Texas LNG proposed facility.

The Houston-based company plans to construct an LNG export facility on a 625-acre site at the Port of Brownsville. The facility will enable the export of 4 million tonnes per annum of LNG to established and developing markets. The proposed terminal is being designed to accommodate LNG carriers with nominal LNG capacities up to 180,000 m3 and dimensions on the order of 977 feet long and 151 feet wide.

“After reviewing the information in th

By SILVIA OLVERA/El Norte (Mexico)

Article published February 13, 2018

MONTERREY, México – Impulsados por México, especialmente por el sector acerero, el Puerto de Brownsville logró mover 10.3 millones de toneladas de mercancía durante el 2017, lo que representó un incrementó del 11 por ciento en relación al 2016.

Eduardo Campirano, director del puerto, describió que aunque se habla mucho en Estados Unidos de un déficit comercial con México, a Brownsville las cifras lo favorecen.

Refirió que el 90 por ciento de la operación está relacionada con México y un porcentaje similar les favorece en su balanza comercial.

De visita en Monterrey, a donde vino para reunirse con directivos del Consejo Mexicano de Comercio Exterior Noreste, Campirano dijo que sin importar el destino del TLC, la relación con las empresas mexicanas y con las regiomontanas

BROWNSVILLE – NextDecade Corporation announced Feb. 1 the completion of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) update package with CB&I for the proposed Rio Grande LNG project at the Port of Brownsville.

The update incorporates identified cost reduction and value improvement initiatives and reconfirms market-leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) cost estimates for three trains of $490 per ton with a target of $450 per ton. For two trains the EPC cost estimate improves to $535 per ton with a target of $500 per ton, the company said.

“Utilizing Air Products’ AP-C3MR liquefaction technology and GE rotating equipment to achieve optimal configuration and economies of scale, Rio Grande LNG stands out thanks to its proven project design allowing for low risk, highly competitive economics across multiple build scenarios,” said NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman.

BY NADIA TAMEZ-ROBLEDO/ The Brownsville Herald

Article published January 14, 2018

After more than three decades of incremental progress, Cameron County and Brownsville officials anticipate the first phase of a road construction project to divert commercial vehicle traffic away from International Boulevard will break ground this year.

Pete Sepulveda Jr., executive director of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, said his office is working with the Port of Brownsville on a wetland mitigation plan for a two-mile stretch of road that will connect State Highway 4 to docks on Ostos Road.

Once approved by state and federal agencies, he said, construction of the road will take about one year and $10 million.

The port connector is the first phase of the larger State Highway 32 construction project, also called the East Loop, which will route commerc