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The four seaports in the metro Houston area—Freeport, Galveston, Houston, and Texas City—handled 242.6 million metric tons of cargo in the 12 months ending February ’23, a 3.8 percent increase over the comparable period in ’22. Those shipments were valued at $279.7 billion, a 28.1 percent increase over the comparable period the previous year. 

Waterborne Exports

• Export value topped $157.4 billion in the 12 months ending February ’23, up 25.4 percent from the comparable period in ’22. 
• Export tonnage topped 174.3 million metric tons, up 4.6 percent from the comparable period in ’22.
• Top exports (weight and value) over the past 12 months included cereal grains, crude and refined products, industrial machinery, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, plastics, vehicles, and vehicle parts. 

Waterborne Imports

• Import value topped $122.3 billion in the 12 months ending February ’23, up 31.9 percent from the comparable period in ’22.
• Import tonnage topped 68.3 million metric tons, up 1.9 percent from the comparable period in ’22.
• Top imports (weight and value) over the past 12 months included crude and refined products, electrical machinery, industrial machinery, iron and steel, vehicles, and vehicle parts..

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Department

Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@houston.org

Clara Richardson 
Research Associate
crichardson@houston.org