Can Houston become the “Gateway of North America”?

Center of global freight

Jay Blazek Crossley, Jan 31, 12.

The Texas Gulf Coast could develop into the hub of international trade in North America if the ports and inland freight infrastructure can meet the increased capacity potential resulting from the widening of the Panama Canal and shifting international trade, according to Guidry News.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett - who introduced the keynote speaker at the recent Fourth Annual Harris County International Trade & Transportation Conference - sees our region as the center of future trade, according to Guidry:

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett welcomed the participants and introduced Curtis Spencer, president of IMS Worldwide, Inc., who was the keynote speaker at the morning session.

“We are perfectly positioned to be the Gateway of North America,” Emmett said. “As ships get larger, as trade comes more from India, Brazil and Africa, and as the Panama Canal expands, all you have to do is look at the Texas Gulf Coast and where it sits on the map, where it sits on the globe – we’re It.”

Emmett urged all of the ports on the Gulf Coast to improve their infrastructure to position themselves for the global markets.

“Yes, I do love the Port of Houston, but when I think of ‘gateway’, I’m thinking all the ports on the Gulf Coast, from Beaumont all the way down to Brownsville,” Emmett said. “The Texas Gulf Coast, and frankly, even the inland ports.”