The Port of Houston is one of the many ports of the East coast of the U.S. that needs to be prepared to handle post-Panamax ships and their cargo.  The rush is on to complete improvements by 2014 when the Canal expansion should be complete.

Panama is not the only place where the canal expansion is creating greater expectations.

The Port of Houston is getting ready and refining its plans for 2014, when the expanded Panama Canal will be reopened, investing $3 billion in the modernization of berths and cranes for the expected moment.

Ricky Kunz, the vice president of the Port of Houston Authority, estimates that by 2014 traffic will increase, surpassing the record of 8,073 boats docked at the port in 2011. Regarding the number of containers that pass through this sea gate to the U.S., Kunz gave an estimate of a 15% increase in lines of trade between Asia and Houston, a calculation that the website of the Texas Tribune newspaper qualifies as “conservative”.

Jess Moseley, president and CEO of Greater Houston Partnership, told the website that the proposed Panama Canal expansion is “a major factor that will change the game and is the project of the century. It will take decades to fully understand the potential of this new capacity. ”

Source: The Texas Tribune