Ports across Houston, New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. have shut down after a rare winter storm smacked the southern U.S. Tuesday.
The closures of the three Gulf Coast ports began late Monday afternoon, and remain in effect through Wednesday.
The National Weather Service said seven to eight inches of snow had been reported in areas between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. Parts of New Orleans saw more than nine inches of snow by Tuesday evening, breaking the previous record of just 2.7 inches set in 1963. The service said Pensacola got five inches, while Mobile saw a record-breaking 7.5 inches.
In Texas, the Houston-Galveston area had two-to-four inches before midday.
The winter storm brought heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Carolinas.
Ahead of the storm, governors in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, declared states of emergency and many school systems canceled classes on Tuesday. Both of Houston’s major airports—George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby—as well as Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, closed Tuesday. All flights were canceled, but operations resumed Wednesday.
Port Houston first closed its container terminal truck gates on Monday afternoon, before suspending vessel operations that evening.
On Tuesday, the port’s eight public terminals were closed, with the gateway potentially resuming vessel operations at the container terminals on Wednesday evening.
To relieve any possible backlog, gates will be open on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time.
Port Houston, the fifth-largest port by annual container traffic in the U.S., handles 73 percent of Gulf Coast container traffic. Its last weather-related closure occurred when Hurricane Beryl hit Texas last July, while it shut down for three days to start October due to the International Longshoremen’s Association’s strike across all East and Gulf Coast ports.
Water flow to the Port of New Orleans was shut down on Sunday, and is expected to resume Thursday once temperatures and conditions improve.
The port’s QSL terminal shuttered operations Monday afternoon, while Ports America, New Orleans Terminal and Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal closed Tuesday. The port will determine whether it will open gates on Saturday once the winter storm passed.
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad temporarily discontinued rail service, and won’t return to full operations until weather conditions permit a safe return.
Last September, Hurricane Francine forced the Port of New Orleans to temporarily close.
As for the Port of Mobile, the Alabama Port Authority discontinued operations and closed all offices and facilities late Monday. The facilities will reopen and resume operations Thursday morning, assuming conditions permit.
Until then, the Bob Hope Bridge accessing the main docks and the Virginia Street bridge accessing APM Terminals and McDuffie Coal Terminal should be considered impassable.
Elsewhere on the Gulf Coast, gates at Port Freeport remained open and are operating under normal hours. Limited activity is expected due to weather conditions impacting the Gulf Coast area.
Another major Texas port, the Port of Galveston, suspended shipping and cargo operations Tuesday. Stevedores at the gateway will assess a possible opening for later Wednesday. Cargo vessels are standing by for arrival, while road conditions around the port complex are icy.
Two major East Coast gateways, South Carolina’s Port of Charleston and the Port of Savannah in Georgia, closed the port off for trucks amid concerns of icy roads.
Four SC Port terminals in Charleston are closed for motor carriers on Wednesday, while Inland Port Dillon will open at noon Thursday and Inland Port Greer will operate under normal hours.
The Port of Savannah closed truck gates Tuesday afternoon at both its Garden City and Ocean terminals, and plans to reopen the Garden City gates at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Ocean Terminal gates will remain closed until Thursday.
The port briefly closed last August when Tropical Storm Debby hit the southeastern U.S.
Despite the stalling into ports like Savannah and Charleston, winter weather is favorable for the trucking industry as it can facilitate higher spot rate growth amid an increase in fuel consumption.
“Winter weather has tightened the truckload spot market in January, and we see pre-tariff shipping supporting activity in 1H’25…while rates are rising, the aggregate spot rate, net fuel, is still up just 5 percent year over year,” said Tim Denoyer, vice president and senior analyst at commercial vehicle and freight market analysis company ACT Research. “With supply slowing and demand growth continuing, we see room for a modest acceleration in rates in 2025. But weather and inventory building are temporary, and, of course, pull-forwards have paybacks.”
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