The Port turning basin area is situated on over 2,000 acres and is served by rail and four-lane divided highways. POV Dock No. 1 is a 350-foot transit dock. A new lighting system allows for 24-hour cargo operations. There are 20 mooring sites, 17,000 square feet of shed space and over 3 acres of improved ground storage areas available. A 7,300 square foot office and storage building is ready for occupancy. POV Dock No. 2 is an 800-foot string pier available for docking sites and barge repair. Major products transferred are liquid and dry bulk and general and project cargos. The Port of Victoria’s Mission is to provide waterway transportation capabilities to create economic opportunity in the region.

The Port has recently formed an Industrial Park with multi-modal access. The Park is located within a Foreign Trade Zone and a Texas Enterprise Zone. The Port has the ability to “build to suit” and tailor a package specific to customer facility and transportation needs.

A major cost savings was realized by including the basin expansion with the completion of the widening and deepening of the Canal. In addition to almost doubling the size of the harbor, a 400 foot x 150-foot barge slip was added. These enhancements will offer our customers greater safety and efficiency.

The Port of Victoria is a center for the chemical, construction and steel fabrication and agribusiness industries offering access to all transportation modes.

Administration

The Texas Water Code allows for the creation of navigation districts that are enabled with the powers to enhance the navigable waterways within their jurisdiction. The Victoria County Navigation District encompasses the entire county of Victoria and its waterways. The Port of Victoria was created to formally organize the management of its ports and waterways.

Total Barges Inbound: 2,870

Total Barges Outbound: 2,841

Total Number of Barges: 5,711

Chemicals: 2,045,878 s/t

Farm Products*: 477,789 s/t
*including fertilizer (liquid and dry), grains, rice and cotton

Sand and Gravel: 2,764,532 s/t

Total Tonnage: 5,288,199 s/t

Rail Traffic: 228,205 bbls crude

Commissioners

Victoria County Navigation District

Robby Burdge – Chairman
Elton Calhoun – Vice-Chairman
Don Pozzi – Secretary
Clayton Johnson – Commisioner
Robert Loeb – Commissioner

Victoria, Where the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was Born

Victoria’s port and canal occupy a unique place in the history of shallow draft transportation. In 1905, C.S. E. Holland, President of the Victoria Business Men’s Association, called for a meeting of interested parties from Texas and Louisiana. The purpose was to discuss construction of a waterway along their coasts to facilitate the movement of trade goods. This was the birth of what we now know as the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) and the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association. This is a waterway that stretches from Brownsville, Texas, along a 1,300-mile route to the Apalachee Bay on the Florida coast. A waterway that became part of the 26,000-mile inland network that is the very backbone of the barge distribution system in the United States.

Victoria took its place as a port in 1968 when the 35-mile Barge Canal to Victoria was completed to a navigable depth of 9 feet and a width of 100 feet. In 1995, work began to widen and deepen the canal to correspond to the GIWW parameters of 12 feet in depth and 125 feet in width. The last leg of this project was completed in March of 2002.

Timeline

On August 8, 1905, a meeting called by Victoria businessmen was held at Hauschild’s Opera House. From this meeting of Texas and Louisiana businessmen came the idea for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association.