Port Corpus Christi is the 5th largest port in the United States in total tonnage . Port Corpus Christi is located on Corpus Christi Bay

Corpus Christi Bay

Corpus Christi Bay is a scenic semi-tropical bay on the Texas coast found in San Patricio and Nueces counties, next to the major city of Corpus Christi. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Mustang Island, and is fed by the Nueces River and Oso Creek from its western and southern extensions,...

 in the western Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

, with a straight 45’ deep channel. The Port is located close to downtown Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...

, Nueces County, Texas; but the port is not part of the City or the County. Port Corpus Christi operates without receiving any city, county, or state tax dollars. Port Corpus Christi is governed by an unpaid board of seven citizens, four of which are appointed by the Nueces County Commissioners Court, and three by the Corpus Christi City Council. Port Corpus Christi handles over 6,000 vessels and over 80,000 tons of cargo annually. Environmental initiatives are handled through the Port's Environmental Management System

Environmental Management System

Environmental management system refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner....

 (EMS). To fight crime and terrorism Public Safety at Port Corpus Christi is handled by the Port Corpus Christi Police department and it's state-of-the-art security center.

History

The need to build a deep water port for Corpus Christi was realized after the devastating hurricane of September 14, 1919. Local business leaders realized that a deep water port was a necessary catalyst to the local economy. Construction of Port Corpus Christi began. On September 14, 1926, seven years to the day after the devastating hurricane, there was an official "statewide" celebration of the opening of the Port. At that time the three Navigation Commissioners were Robert Driscoll, Chairman; John W. Kellam of Robstown; and W.W. Jones. The first Port Commission was appointed in 1923 with three members. In 1973 a special act of legislature increased the number of Commissioners to five, and in 1983 another special act of the legislature increased to the current number of seven. In the early days of the Port, cotton was king. Nueces County and surrounding counties were among the State's leaders in cotton production. There were four cargo docks when the Port opened. The use of the Port from its opening was so great that after only two years, in 1928, the Port went to the people with an issue of an additional $1,500,000 in bonds to build two more cargo docks. In 1930, the channel was deepened to 30 feet. In the early 1930's, large oil fields were discovered in San Patricio, Nueces, and neighboring counties. Refineries began to locate along the Port. From the mid-1930's, the major portion of the tonnage moved through the Port shifted from cotton to petroleum and petroleum products. In 1985 the Port of Corpus Christi was designated as a Foreign Trade Zone

Foreign trade zone

A foreign-trade zone in the United States is a geographical area, in United States Ports of Entry Ports of Entry, where commercial merchandise, both domestic and foreign receives the same Customs treatment it would if it were outside the commerce of the United States...

 and in 1986, the agreements were entered into with the first two Users. The Port's Foreign Trade Zone

Foreign trade zone

A foreign-trade zone in the United States is a geographical area, in United States Ports of Entry Ports of Entry, where commercial merchandise, both domestic and foreign receives the same Customs treatment it would if it were outside the commerce of the United States...

 has sub-zones which include portions of the facilities of most of the refineries near the Port of Corpus Christi. A channel depth of 45' reached the La Quinta Channel in 1975. By 1989 the 45' depth reached through the inner harbor giving Corpus Christi the deepest waterway of any port in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 at the time. The late 80's and early 90's brought diversification efforts to enhance the economic foundation of the Port by attracting new cargoes, including: steel products, project cargoes, refrigerated cargoes, military equipment cargo, cruise ships, forest products, automobiles, containers, and more.

Cargo

Port Corpus Christi handles break bulk cargo, project cargo

Project cargo

Project Cargo is a term used to broadly describe the national or international transportation of large, heavy, high value or a critical pieces of equipment...

, oil and gas

Oil and gas

Oil and gas are two commonly associated fossil fuels. The phrase may refer to:*Oil and gas field*Oil and gas law in the United States-See also:* Gasoline* Heating oil* Hydrocarbon exploration* Natural gas* Petroleum industry* Petroleum...

, dry bulk, agricultural, refrigerated cargo, and containerized cargo, among other commodities. Cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 was the main cargo in the early days of Port Corpus Christi, and is still traded through the Port today. Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 is now the top wind energy

Wind energy

Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...

 production state in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, producing more wind energy than all but five countries (the U.S., Germany, Spain, China, and India), thus creating an increased demand for wind turbines. These wind turbines are also a main cargo moving through Port Corpus Christi. In 2009 the US Army Corps of Engineers approved the dredging of the La Quinta Channel extension ahead of the construction of the La Quinta multipurpose facility. This facility (in construction phase, 2011) will provide Port Corpus Christi the ability to handle an estimated 1 million TEU

TEU

TEU may refer to:* Twenty-foot equivalent unit, a measure used for capacity in container transportation* Treaty on European Union, formal name of the Maastricht Treaty on the creation of the euro...

s annually.

The top 10 commodities traded in 2009 are as follows:

Rank	Inbound	Outbound
1	Crude Oil	Gasoline Gasoline Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
2	Fuel Oil Fuel oil Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...	Fuel Oil Fuel oil Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
3	Gas Oil	Diesel Diesel Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and...
4	Bauxite Bauxite Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...	Feed Stock
5	Feed Stock	Wheat Wheat Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
6	Naphtha Naphtha Naphtha normally refers to a number of different flammable liquid mixtures of hydrocarbons, i.e., a component of natural gas condensate or a distillation product from petroleum, coal tar or peat boiling in a certain range and containing certain hydrocarbons. It is a broad term covering among the...	Alumina
7	Condensate Condensate Condensate may refer to:* The liquid phase produced by the condensation of steam or any other gas* The product of a chemical condensation reaction, other than water* Natural gas condensate, in the natural gas industry- Quantum physics :...	Gas Oil
8	Reformate	Cumene Cumene Cumene is the common name for isopropylbenzene, an organic compound that is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a constituent of crude oil and refined fuels. It is a flammable colorless liquid that has a boiling point of 152 °C...
9	Slop and Slurry	Asphalt Asphalt Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
10	Aggregate Aggregate An aggregate is a collection of items that are gathered together to form a total quantity.* Aggregate , in materials science, a component of a composite material used to resist compressive stress...	Vulcan Vulcan -Mythology:* Vulcan , the blacksmith god of fire and volcanoes in Roman mythology** Vulcan of the alchemists, the patron deity associated with Paracelsian alchemy-Books :* Vulcan!, a 1978 Star Trek novel by Kathleen Sky...

Environmental

In January 2004, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority developed and implemented an Environmental Management System

Environmental Management System

Environmental management system refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner....

 (EMS) through a Port EMS Assistance Project. It was a partnership effort with American Association of Port Authorities

American Association of Port Authorities

The American Association of Port Authorities ' is a trade association, founded in 1912, that represents over 150 port authority organizations throughout the Western Hemisphere....

 (AAPA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF) for eleven ports to develop an EMS modeled after the ISO 14001 Standard. An EMS is a set of management processes and procedures that allow an organization to analyze, control, and improve the environmental consequences of its activities. The development and implementation took two years to complete and since that time Port Corpus Christi has been maintaining an award-winning EMS program. In 2007 Port Corpus Christi received ISO 14001 certification of its EMS program and continues to maintain this certification. In 2010 Port Corpus Christi received a grant from the EPA to re-power its existing 1,000 horsepower locomotive switch engine with two 700 horsepower GENSET engines to help reduce diesel emissions at the Port. In 2011 the construction of six wind turbines began on Port Property. This is projected to provide over 30 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy power per year.