The Reata Marine Terminal is located on and is serviced by the Sabine-Neches Waterway (“SNWW or waterway”). The Sabine-Neches Waterway is the lifeline that drives the economics of southeast Texas and central United States. The waterway and its associated Sabine Pass Ship Channel together form an interlocking set of channels and canals extending from deep water in the Gulf of Mexico to the ports of Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Orange, Texas, and access major refineries of Valero, Motiva, Total, and Exxon Mobil. The Waterway in turn is intersected by the Gulf lntracoastal Canal which can take barge cargo to markets along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. The combination of ocean and barge shipping waterway provides open access to important Texas and Louisiana coastal ports as well as international marine commerce.
The ship channel that is the conduit for the Sabine-Neches Waterway has been improved five times since initial construction in 1909. By 1962, the channel was 40 feet deep and 400 feet wide and is currently maintained at these dimensions by the Corps of Engineers. The channel allows up to 50,000 MT tankers from the Gulf of Mexico to as far upstream as the Port of Beaumont.
At the mouth of the channel is the Port of Sabine Pass with jetties extending three miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty-four miles north up the waterway, the channel follows the Sabine River where it is joined by the lntracoastal Canal near the Port of Port Arthur. Past Port Arthur, the dredged channel leaves the Sabine, continues northeast up the Neches River another 15 miles to the Port of Beaumont.
Through the Sabine-Neches Waterway, more than 125 million tons of cargo is transported each year to energy, petrochemical and military users. That cargo includes crude oil, diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, chemicals, steel, lumber, grain and many other products. The waterway not only brings over 150,000 jobs to southeast Texas but generates $32 billion dollars annually in national gross product and enhances the U.S. trade infrastructure.
The Sabine-Neches Waterway commerce includes the following activities:
- Nation’s 3rd largest waterway
- #1 bulk liquid cargo waterway in the nation
- #1 U.S. crude oil importer
- Projected to become the largest LNG exporter in the United States
- Refines approximately 13% of American daily fuel consumption
- Stores 55% of the nation’s strategic oil reserves
- Home of the nation’s #1 commercial military outload port
- Refiners along the SNWW produce 60% of the nation’s commercial jet fuel and majority of U.S. military jet fuel.
- 71,000 waterborne transits annually 0 More than 125,000 tons of cargo transported annually
Sabine-Neches Waterway Expansion
With Congress passing H.R. 3080 in June 2014, the Water Resources Reforms and Development Act (“WRRDA), allocated $748 million in federal funds to the Sabine-Neches Waterway Improvement Project. This project will deepen the existing SNWW channel to a depth of 48 feet to accommodate larger ships (new Panamax size, 125,000 MT) now able to navigate through the Panama Canal after its recent expansion. The Sabine—Neches Waterway will be the first Gulf Coast system to accommodate the post Panama expansion vessels from origins worldwide. The SNWW has national importance and is often referred to as “America’s Energy Gateway” to the largest refineries and petrochemical plants in the United States.
Benefits from the SNWW Improvement Project include:
- First “Panama Canal Ready” port
- Allows post-Panama Canal expansion-sized vessels (125 MT) to reach SNWW ports
- Over 78,000 permanent additional jobs will be created in Jefferson County
- Better managed Waterway
- Stimulate economic development
The expanded Sabine-Neches Waterway and the Panama Canal will provide a significant competitive opportunity for SNWW and all U.S. inland waterways prepared to handle new Panamax size vessels.