RoRo & General Cargo

Ports America Texas

Ro-ro stevedore · Pier 39/40 T-head · 3927 Wharf Road

The port’s ro-ro stevedore for well over a decade. Works the deep-sea car and equipment carriers at the T-head: Wallenius Wilhelmsen, ARC, K-Line, NYK and Höegh calls, plus breakbulk across the general cargo berths. The Galveston terminal is TWIC access only.

Terminal office hours for deliveries and pickups run weekday mornings and afternoons with a midday close — call before you drive out with a title or a bill of sale.

The ro-ro carriers

Six to ten ships a month, four liner services

Wallenius Wilhelmsen — a 30-year Galveston partner, more than 1,800 deep-sea calls; first ship on the new berth, July 2, 2026. ARC (American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier) — Galveston a strategic hub since 2007: South America, transpacific, transatlantic. K-Line and NYK also call. Höegh Autoliners handles titles through Norton Lilly at 3902 Wharf Road.

The rest of the complex

Metro / Suderman Stevedores — project cargo and wind: tens of acres of laydown for blades, towers and nacelles bound for wind farms across the central U.S. and Canada. CHS — the bulk terminal at Pier 35–36, import urea, two shipside gantry cranes, 70,000 tons of storage, rail served. BMW / WWL — the vehicle processing centre at Pier 10, beside the Royal Caribbean terminal.

Pier 30 – 32

Ro-ro and general cargo

1,000 ft of berth with dolphins, 40 ft of water. Fresh water on request from the port.

Pier 34

General and project cargo

632 ft, 37 ft of water. Where the wind blades and towers come off.

Pier 35 – 36

Bulk terminal · CHS

642 ft, 38 ft of water. Import bulk urea by gantry crane into 70,000 tons of storage.

Pier 38 – 41

The new berth and the T-head

The $106 million West Port expansion closed and filled the old slips and opened a 1,434-ft berth on July 2, 2026, built for 46-ft-draft ships. The Pier 39/40 T-head is the ro-ro terminal: Wallenius Wilhelmsen, K-Line, ARC — agricultural and construction machinery, passenger vehicles, breakbulk.

Ro-ro

New cars, heavy construction and agricultural equipment, and general breakbulk, largely from Europe, the UK, Mexico and South America, driven off the ship and onto trucks and rail. Ro-ro has been the port’s steadiest cargo for decades.

Wind

Hundreds of blades and tower sections a year, imported through the port’s Foreign Trade Zone (No. 36) and trucked and railed to wind farms in the central U.S. Galveston has been handling onshore wind components since 2007; the FTZ was expanded in 2023 to take more.

Bulk and the rest

Bulk fertilizer (urea) at CHS, bulk liquids, project cargo. Grain and fresh fruit are being phased out as the port shifts to ro-ro, project and breakbulk. Across the channel on Pelican Island is ship repair: Gulf Copper’s drydock.

Everyone past the gate holds a TWIC or is escorted

The cargo complex is a secure area under the port’s facility security plan. No TWIC means an approved escort meets you at the gate and stays with you, and you are on a list before you arrive. Bring a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance if you are driving on the port.

Becoming an escort takes a valid TWIC, a sponsoring company with an agreement with the port, a signed non-disclosure agreement, a port user license, and the port’s MTSA escort training — held the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 10 am, in person or on Teams, by email request 24 hours ahead. Applications are at the Port Police station, 2803 Wharf Road, and the port offices at 123 Rosenberg, 8th floor.