STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 31 That supply line remains vital to Houston's growing coffee industry. "The port has been of invaluable help during all these years," Echeverry said. "They were very instrumental in helping Houston get the certification from NYBOT for exchange coffee, and they continue to actively support the industry and ensure the port remains competitive and attractive to the importers." Without the certification, Echeverry said, the port could not receive or handle any exchange coffee. That would mean thousands of square feet of storage lost along with hundreds of coffee industry jobs throughout the greater Houston area. In all, there are 139 terminals at the port. Only eight are run by Port Houston. Four are designated for general cargo, two are for containers, one is for bulk minerals and another is for bulk grain. The others are operated by major corporations. Here are some additional numbers Port Houston reports for 2016: • No. 1 ranked US port for foreign tonnage • No. 3 ranked US port in terms of total foreign cargo value • No. 6 ranked US container port by total TEUs • Largest Gulf Coast container port, handling 68% of US Gulf Coast container traffic • Largest Texas port with 46% of market share by tonnage and 95% market share in containers by total TEUs The container terminals Barbours Cut Container Terminal, owned and operated by the port, opened in 1977. Ships entering the bay from the Gulf of Mexico travel another 3.5 hours before arriv- ing at the terminal. Once there, six berths provide 6,000 feet of quay. The newer Bayport Terminal continues its development as an environmentally sen- sitive site. Once completed, the terminal will operate seven container berths capable of handling 2.3 million TEUs. Containers laden with green coffee are off-loaded at the terminals and moved by truck to warehouses, roasteries, and other coffee facilities throughout Houston or shipped by truck or train to other destinations across the United States. The Bayport container terminal

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