Reuters /STAFF /LANDOV

A tanker makes a call at the Sunoco Logistics terminal on the Sabine-Neches waterway in Nederland, Texas, April 26, 2013.

From Houston Public Media: 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are calling attention to the country’s aging roads, bridges, and shipping channels. It’s Infrastructure Week, an annual event that looks at how the economy is affected when facilities aren’t properly maintained.

Maintenance is a big issue right now on the Sabine-Neches Waterway. It may not be as well known as the Houston Ship Channel but it handles a lot of business.

Winding along the Texas-Louisiana border, the 63-mile-long waterway serves the ports of Beaumont and Port Arthur. It handles about 100 million tons of cargo a year and it’s a major refining center that’s responsible for about 288,000 jobs in the region.

But port officials are concerned about the future as they prepare to handle bigger ships from a widened Panama Canal.  Continue Reading →