Houston, Galveston to develop new container facility

Houston, Galveston to develop new container facility The Port of Houston Authority and the Port of Galveston are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding on Friday to develop portions of Pelican Island.
   Under the agreement, the two ports will sign an agreement regarding joint action to create a master development plan for a Pelican Island Container Handling Facility. The joint agreement stipulates that finance and development of the facility will not begin until after 2015, when Houston’s recently opened Bayport Container Terminal is expected to be fully built out.
   Last November the ports ended an arrangement where the Port of Houston had leased a 46-acre terminal in Galveston. The Port of Houston had only limited success in finding a container carrier that wanted to regularly call at the terminal at Pier 10, which it had leased since 1997. No carrier had called there for four years.
   The newspaper said with the pier now under their control, Galveston officials hope to attract new business to the pier.
   Galveston owns about 100 acres and Houston about 1,100 acres of Pelican Island.