Houston Ship Channel - deepwater seaport corridor inland

The Port of Houston Authority operates the Houston Ship Channel, an inland waterway dredged and maintained to a depth of 45 feet to allow deep-draft ocean-going vessels to reach industrial terminals well inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The channel cuts through heavily urbanized and industrial areas of the Houston region, creating a rare configuration where a major deepwater seaport corridor passes adjacent to dense residential and commercial development. It is one of the busiest U.S. ports by foreign tonnage and is frequently cited as an unusual industrial-seaport geography.