The Port

Last week I got the wonderful opportunity to tour the Port here in Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi is actually the US's 6th largest port by volume.

At tanker arrives in the inner harbor, over 90% of the cargo entering the port is petroleum products.

A growing part of the port is "Project Cargo", ie large things that don't fit in containers. Texas is currently leading the nation in Wind Power development, thanks in large part to T. Boone Pickens. Wind Farms are popping up everywhere, there are some planned for around the Corpus Christi Bay area, and the state is well on its way to reach the 20% of all energy generated target.

The windmills mostly come from abroad and they are imported and brought ashore here in Corpus. Below is someone else's photo of a shipload of wind tower columns.

Here is a photo of the harbor... another interesting fact is that Corpus is the only port in the US that trades with Cuba. A 2000 act of congress allows for the sale of humanitarian, agricultural, and medical goods to Cuba. In 2003 the port and Cuba signed a Memo of Undertanding. So Cuba gets a ship yearly of grains and other things and they have to pay cash. When the embargo is released, which might happen as soon as next congress and under the new president, Corpus Christi stands to benifit.

The port is also hoping to build a large container port, the port currently does not have container facilities, but they have a large tract with highway, rail, and ship channel access that would be promising for one if the demand is there.

Overall, very interesting, International Trade was one of the classes which I enjoyed the most, and this year Paul Krugman is winning the Nobel Prize in Economics for his New Trade Theory. It's easy to only read his Times columns and dismiss him as a partisan hack, but his academic work is impartial, reasoned, and really changed the way (academic economist) people thought about trade.