In partnership with Port Houston, McCarthy Building Cos. is constructing a 45-acre expansion to the existing Bayport Container Terminal in Pasadena. The construction started in October and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2020.

The terminal expansion is key to the continued effort to grow and modernize the port. It will increase Port Houston's ability to serve the rise in activity in container exports of finished petrochemical, agricultural and other products made in Texas and imports of consumer items like food, clothing and furniture. This trade activity supports the fast-growing regional population.

The project will include the installation of new electrical duct banks, controls and lighting, updated storm drainage and utility systems, as well as a roller compacted concrete pavement section.

To overcome the challenge of executing deep excavations along the Gulf of Mexico coastline due to the site's proximity to the water table, the team will implement dewatering techniques to maintain water levels to a minimum in areas of deep excavations for installing new utilities.

"Since 1991, McCarthy has worked with the port to deliver complex marine projects that fit the needs of an expanding enterprise, and we are eager to follow suit on the Bayport Container Yard project,” McCarthy Southern Region Executive Vice President of Operations Kurt Knebel said in a release.

McCarthy's other Port Houston projects include the Bayport Wharf II, Bayport Phase I Stage II Container Yard, Bayport Gate Complex, Bayport Port Road, Bayport Phase I Stage I RCC and Bayport Wharf I.

The southeast industrial submarket around the port finished 2018 in dominating fashion. The market secured more than 50% of Houston's total industrial leasing activity in the fourth quarter, according to JLL's quarterly industrial market report. The southeast submarket closed the year with positive net absorption of 4.3M SF, which tops the submarket's 2017 positive net absorption of 3.7M SF.