The Port of Victoria is a shallow-draft

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Victoria, Texas Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria, Texas metropolitan area, Victoria Metropolitan Statis ...

(

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

). It was opened in 1968 by creation of a 35-mile barge canal (dredged to a depth of 9 feet) linking Victoria, Texas to the

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately from Saint Marks, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. T ...

(GIWW). (Coincidentally, it was Victoria that held the first meeting in 1905 which led to the creation of the GIWW, a fact noted on the Port's logo and on its website.) In March 2002, the Port completed a deepening of the canal to 12 feet, the same depth as the GIWW, to better facilitate traffic between the two. The Port serves the city of Victoria and the nearby regional area. It is connected by rail via

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

(with

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

to both

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

and Kansas City Southern), by road via U.S. Highway 59 (which is in the process of being upgraded to

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, and includ ...

U.S. Highway 77 U.S. Route 77 (US 77) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway which extends for in the central United States. As of 2005, Its southern terminus is in Brownsville, Texas, at Veteran's International Bridge on the Mexican border, w ...

, and U.S. Highway 87, and by air to

Victoria Regional Airport Victoria Regional Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located five nautical miles (6 mi, 9 km) northeast of the central business district of Victoria, a city in Victoria County, Texas, United States. It is mostly use ...

. In February 2005, the Port of Victoria and the

Port of Houston The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Houston, Texas. The port is a complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. Loc ...

signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate barge traffic between the two ports, as a means of reducing traffic and emissions on the area highways.

References

External links

Port of Victoria, Texas
*https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot-info/mrt/port-profiles.pdf *

{{Port-stub