Port of Galveston wind turbine imports picking up

Nov 20, 2024

Blades Bound For $5B Wind Project in New Mexico - Galveston has long been a preferred port for wind turbine importers due to its skilled labor, rail and highway access, and optimum clearances for the components, some almost 250 feet long. A typical shipment fills a cargo laydown area equal to 7 ½ football fields. Port of Galveston photo.

Wind turbine shipments are picking up at the Port of Galveston, with hundreds of imported blades and tower pieces bound for a $5 billion wind farm being built in New Mexico. This year through October, the port has imported 979 wind pieces totaling more than 32,000 tons, with eight more ships scheduled through the end of the year. Activity is expected to remain strong through 2025.

“We’ve been able to attract more wind business because we have the skilled labor, transportation infrastructure and proximity to an interstate highway,” said Rodger Rees, Galveston Wharves port director and CEO. “Offloading, moving and transporting these huge pieces takes specialized skills and equipment.”

The blades are being transported largely by rail, with some by truck, to the SunZia Wind project. It will be the largest wind farm in the U.S., with 900 turbines across Lincoln, San Miguel and Torrance counties in central New Mexico.

Waterfront workers are moving blades as long as 75.7 meters (248.4 feet), the largest wind pieces to come across Galveston docks since the port began handling wind turbine pieces in the early 2000s. The port worked with the city of Galveston and the Texas Department of Transportation to modify the turn onto the Interstate 45 feeder road to accommodate trucks carrying the larger blades.

Recipe for Wind Cargo Growth

The port and its stevedore tenants saw an opportunity to capture new wind business after federal tax incentives authorized in 2022 spurred more wind imports.

The port has been able to attract the new wind cargo business by authorizing additional cargo acreage for its Foreign Trade Zone in 2023 to accommodate its expanding wind turbine import business. The port can now designate an additional 23 acres between piers 34 and 41 within its West Port Cargo Complex to stimulate new business.

The port also is investing more than $90 million to expand and improve the cargo complex. The port will add about 30 acres and a 1,424-foot-long berth by filling two slips and demolishing a decommissioned grain elevator. The first phase of construction began in summer 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2026.