Port Freeport

This section covers the early history of the Brazos River from the time Texas was founded until the current entity was formed in 1925.

When Stephen F. Austin landed on the Texas coast in 1825 at the mouth of the Brazos River to form his colony there was no deep channel or rock jetties at that time – it was only a lazy river flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

A report from the U.S. Army, describes "the Brazos River as one of the principal rivers in Texas. Its length is about 800 miles, and its watershed embraces about 36,000 square miles." "Unlike any other Texas river, the Brazos flows directly into the Gulf of Mexico without the intervention of a bay." [3]

In the late 19th century, work began in a set of jetties but did not get completed until 1900 as the project switched from federal sponsor to private and back to federal.

The Brazos Internal Improvement and Navigation Company was chartered by the legislature of Texas for the purpose of deepening the channel over the bar and improving the river, but after various unsuccessful effort to secure a subsidy from the State the project was abandoned about 1874.[3]

United States (Army Corps of) Engineers proposes spending $40,000 to remove the (sand) bar and add palmetto pilings. Congress approved the budget. However, later that year, The Army amended their proposal to build two parallel jetties consisting of brush, stone, and concrete instead of piles at an estimated cost of $522,890. Work began in 1881 and continued until 1886, when operations were suspended for lack of (federal) funds.[3] At this time, only the north (or eastern) jetty was partially completed with only some of the base of the south jetty complete.

A survey indicated wave actions and subsidence may have contributed to the loss of a considerable amount of the north jetty.[3] The officer in charge, Major O.H. Ernst, opined that money would be better spent deepening the Galveston and Brazos Canal, a canal that connected Port Velasco to Galveston, a forerunner of the Intracoastal Waterway. He recommended work on the jetties at the Brazos River be abandoned.

During the same year, while federal representatives were preparing to abandon their project, the Texas Legislature added statutes creating the Brazos River Channel and Dock Company (February 1888) for the purpose of constructing, owning, and operating a deep-water channels into the Gulf of Mexico and for constructing, owning, and operating docks in connection with such channels. Their authority extended "as far as necessary to reach a place of its docks that will afford security from cyclones, storms, swells, and tidal waves, with such depth as may suit its concenience and the wants of navigation, not less than 10 feet, and a width of not less than 40 feet."[3] They were authorized to charge and collect tolls "not to exceed 1 cent per barrel bulk of the capacity of each vessel going either way.[3]"

Port Velasco officially opened in July 1891 and was the predecessor to Port Freeport. Velasco was the settlement originally located at the mouth of the Brazos River near modern day Surfside TX.  After an early storm destroyed Velasco, the settlement was moved upriver and rebuilt. Port Velasco was an early port of commerce for Texas but was hampered by silting at the mouth of the Brazos River. The  town of Velasco later ( approximately 1957)  merged with the town of Freeport to form a single community.

In 1899, the Secretary of War, deemed the maintenance the river mouth “of sufficient public interest to justify the United States to [take over and] complete the works of the Brazos River Channel and Dock Company.”  Whereby, he approved Eighty-five thousand dollars in funding for improvements to the river, provided the Brazos River Channel and Dock Company transferred all interest to the United States Government. This project resulted in channel 18 feet deep and 150 feet wide and removed any private interest from owning or operating the channel.

Initial products were agricultural in nature consisting of  mostly cotton. In the early 1900s Sulphur mines were common in southern Brazoria County located near Velasco and Freeport.  The Freeport Sulphur Company was established in 1912 with mining interests in the area that utilized the channel for exporting product and is the original heavy industry to begin developing the area (Freeport-McMoran, 2021).

Spring floods impacted the river causing silting near the mouth there was a continual need for dredging to keep commerce viable. Another major feature of the Brazos River is that it empties directly into the Gulf of Mexico without crossing a bay or estuary. This is import from both a maintenance and ecological viewpoint.

1925 marked the year Port Freeport was officially created as a governing entity.

Port Freeport, originally known as the Brazos River Harbor Navigation District of Brazoria County, is a Special District created under the Texas Constitution by the Legislature in 1925 and approved by the citizens of Brazoria County. Port Freeport is a local government entity that is governed by a board of Commissioners elected by the voters of the district. Commonly known, and referred to, as a Navigation District or Port Authority.

Port Freeport is a taxing authority with the power to issue bonds --  “for improving the inland and coastal waters, and for the preservation and conservation of inland and coastal waters  for navigation … and that all property, real and personal, situated within the district and subject to taxation will be benefitted by the improvements to be constructed by the District” (Section 59, Article 16, Texas Constitution)  The port collects taxes for two purposes, to develop and improve waterways and facilities, and to maintain said waterways and [public] facilities.

Following enactment of a statute in 1925 by the Texas legislature providing that a district might be established from parts or all of one or two counties for the purpose of improvement of harbor or navigable streams, in December 1925 The Brazos River Harbor Navigation district was created by a vote of people of the district that was established.. The district established encompasses Four-Fifths of Brazorla County. (Freeport Facts, 1949) 

A $1,000,000 in Bonds Voted accompanied the vote for district creation.  The purpose of the bond issue was primarily for the Improvement and deepening of the harbor at the mouth of the Brazos River. (Freeport Facts, 1949) This bond was matched by the federal government which directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a project to protect the harbor by diverting the mount of the Brazos River over five miles distant from the existing rock jetties. 

When completed, it created a protected harbor for shipping and a base for economic development that remains to this day. It also created a unique situation where the Brazos River is the only river in the United States with two mouths

The first notable project of the Navigation District was the relocation of the Brazos River which was completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding in the town of Velasco and Freeport and provide a protected harbor for the fledgling shipping industry that supported Sulphur mining in the area.   Moving a river is a pretty large task – especially in the late 1920s.  Almost all dirt work was done by mule powered equipment as the diversion channel was dug in dry ground before being opened to the river water. One of the results of this project was the Highway 36 bridge leading into Freeport being built over dry ground then having the channel dug under it.

Later, the main channel (aka Old Brazos River) would be expanded from 18 feet to a depth of 38 feet by 300 feet wide and extended into the Gulf of Mexico for seven miles. This provided a more stable channel for ship calling on Port Freeport which primarily carried Sulphur, crude oil for the inland refineries, and the new chemical market that developed during World War II.

In the early 1950s a public dry cargo terminal was built and operated by the Brazos River Navigation District of Brazoria County. This has evolved into the current facility located in the city of Freeport which houses various tenants such as American Rice, Dole, Chiquita and Horizon Terminals as well as a dozen stevedoring companies.

• In 1970 the River and Harbor Act authorized a new depth of the channel to be 45 feet with dredging completed in the late 1980s. This was primarily to accommodate larger tankers needed for importing crude oil.
• In the early 1990s the North Jetty was relocated to create a wider channel entrance.
• In the early 2000s the entry channel was expanded again to accommodate larger liquified gas vessels.
• In 2014
  • Port Freeport obtained Congressional approval to further expand and deepen the channel to handle larger ships.
  • Ship to Shore (STS) cranes (2) were added specifically for moving containerized cargo.
• In 2018 public supported bonds were passed to support this specific project. However, US Army Corps of Engineers delayed work until 2020 with actual work beginning in 2021.
• In 2021 the US Army Corps of Engineers broke the overall dredging project into four segments (referred to as reaches) and issued a dredging contract to begin with Reach 3, a segment of river closest to and directly supporting the container dock. That segment of river was dredged to a depth of 51 feet in 2021.
• In 2022 a contract was issued for Reach 2, a segment of river that has a tight turn with heavy industry on both sides of the channel.

As a Deep-Draft port, Freeport complements, and competes with, other ports along the Gulf Coast in handling exports, import and coastwise shipping helping to propel Texas into the 10th largest economy in the world.  Publicly owned and operated deep-draft warehousing and terminal facilities for general cargo are located in the Brazos Harbor Turning Basin. Foreign trade and interstate commerce are primary functions of the Port.

The population of Brazoria county was 76,000 in 1960; 108,000 in 1970 and is 346,300 in 2015, 374,264 in 2019, 379,641 in 2020. This is a growth rate of 22.45% since 2010.

Formed in 1912 to mine Sulphur in the area and ship Sulphur from Velasco where it became a valuable asset to the United States during World War I and thus increasing the area's importance. It was followed in 1916 by the Stauffer Chemical Company which caused economic growth in the area and led to the formation of the City of Freeport.

In the late 1930s, Dow Chemical wanted develop a new facility while expanding their magnesium extraction process. Freeport, Texas had everything a chemical company could want - seawater rich in magnesium and bromine, a proximity to natural gas reserves and salt domes, a large harbor and good weather.

Dow officials, including Willard Dow and Dr. A.P. Beutel, studied potential locales from New Orleans, Louisiana down to Brownsville, Texas. Two sites stood above the rest: Corpus Christi and Freeport. Freeport was a small village in the middle of marshland with an easily accessible harbor – it won.

Dow was a major military contractor during WWII with their magnesium extraction process perfected just months prior to the Japanese attack on Peal Harbor. Magnesium is used in flares, bombs, and the manufacture of aircraft. Dow opened its doors here in 1941. (Brandt, 2013)

Dow Chemical has formed the base for almost all other chemical companies in lower Brazoria County as it either provides raw products, or uses products from the many other chemical companies in the area. Dow is also responsible for the existence of the City of Lake Jackson, which was built to house their anticipated workforce. Lake Jackson was one of the first master planned communities in existence.

Due to WWII, the country needed refined petroleum products. In 1941, Phillips Petroleum established a refinery and tank farm in the town of Old Ocean, about 30 miles inland. The location chosen was  primarily as protection from enemy naval attack. They connected to the Freeport harbor via pipeline to load ships from their own terminal.  2019 saw the completion and activation of the Phillips 66 NGL facility significantly increasing ship traffic. This led Forbes Magazine to list Port Freeport as one of the top 10 fastest growing ports in the United States.

In 1953, the Port Authority passed a bond to build public docks and warehouses in order to handle bulk and dry goods. Those docks have evolved into a nearly 400 acre facility used by several import and export companies today. Long term tenants include: Dole Fruit, Rivianna Foods (FKA American Rice), Chiquita Fruit Co., Tenaris, and Horizon Terminal Services.

BASF, a German company, partnered with Dow to build a plant here in the 1950s.  In the early 1990s BASF opened a marine terminal on the river and today is expanding again to become one of the world's largest producers of ammonia.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) formed in 1975 as defense against oil shortages and resulting economic hardships for the country. The SPR site located on the Brazos River Diversion Channel south of Freeport is the largest of these facilities in the United States with a capacity exceeding 40 Million barrels. SPR is connected via pipelines to other locations in the country and to multiple berths along the Freeport Channel.

Closely associated with the SPR facility is Enterprise Products (Pipeline), which is also a tenant of Port Freeport, operating a crude oil terminal that transfers crude oil, both import and export, for various refineries in addition to the SPR facility.

Freeport LNG was an early entrant to the then emerging U.S. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) market in the early 2000s. They initially began operations as a gas importer in 2008[5] supporting cleaner fuels for the US. A major shift in the LNG gas market due primarily to improvements in extracting gas from shale, saw little need for the US to continue importing natural gas. In the early 2010s, Freeport LNG switched their market focus to build export capacity, which led to major investments in their facility. A multi-phase expansion[6] costing more than $25 billion led to Freeport LNG having one of the largest LNG export facilities in the world.

The LNG terminal began commercial operations in April 2008.[5] LNG export capability became operational in 2019.[6]

On June 8, 2022, a fire and explosion occurred as a result of a pipeline rupture, taking the LNG terminal fully offline. As of June 2022, limited operations were expected to resume in September, with full service restored by the end of 2022. Because the terminal accounted for about 20% of US LNG exports, and with European countries looking for LNG imports as an alternative to Russian gas since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the disruption had a major impact on international gas prices.[7]