MCALLEN, Texas - Esteban Guerra, chairman of Brownsville Navigation District, has confirmed that Ternium USA will not be building a terminal at the Port of Brownsville.
However, Guerra said, the steel manufacturing company will continue to import steel slab, much of it from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, through the port, to feed its $1 billion hot rolling mill operations in Pesquería, Nuevo León.
The Port of Brownsville handles around four million metric tons of steel for Ternium. The plan was for Ternium to construct a major terminal development at the port to maximize the efficient loading of open-top gondola railcars for steel slab shipments to feed Ternium’s recently expanded mill in Pesquería.
“I need to clarify. This is not a loss of Ternium at the Port of Brownsville. Ternium continues to be one of our biggest clients, and they are going to continue moving their steel through the Port of Brownsville,” Guerra told the RGG Business Journal.
“What we did do is go back and revisit the plan for a potential site that they were going to be doing at the Port. It was going to be a holding facility. It was not going to be a manufacturing facility.”
Asked why the terminal was not being built, Guerra said: “There were factors that are outside our control, specifically tariffs. Unfortunately, we were not able to move forward with the project. But we continue working with Ternium. They are a very great client of ours, and we're going to continue seeing what other projects we can do with them in the future.”
Ternium is headquartered in Luxembourg.
While the Port of Brownsville is not getting a Ternium terminal, it is developing at a rapid pace, Guerra said.
“Everything is going wonderfully at the Port of Brownsville right now. I'm happy to report that in the pipeline, we have roughly $25 billion in potential projects coming to our region. So, really exciting times, not only for Brownsville, but for the entire region.”
Asked which sectors the investment will be in, Guerra said: “We have a very diverse portfolio at the Port of Brownsville. We are not putting all our eggs in one basket. We are looking at projects in the steel industry, aluminum industry, shipbuilding industry. All types of different industries that are looking at coming and making the Port of Brownsville their home.”
Asked if some of these companies will be based in the Port’s new industrial park, Guerra said: “We have a lot of people that are interested in our park, and we're ready to get our first groundbreaking going there as well. We are aggressively marketing our land. Land availability is a big thing for us. Obviously, we are, as you know, the largest landowning port authority in the United States. But our land is filling up quickly, especially waterfront land.”
Guerra was asked if enough people in the Grande Valley realize the economic impact the Port of Brownsville has on the region.
“That's our job, to get that message out there and let people know exactly what we're doing for them. At the Port of Brownsville, it's been a priority of my own and of my commission and our staff, to get high paying jobs to the region. To get people to come and invest billions of dollars. That is what we are doing and that’s what we've done. We are delivering billions of dollars of investments and thousands of jobs to our region, not only jobs, good paying jobs.”
The RGG Business Journal secured its interview with Chairman Guerra at a recent meeting of RioPlex. It was held at the McAllen Country Club.
Guerra is a board member of RioPlex. Asked about the group, Guerra said: “It is an honor to serve with (Hidalgo County) Judge (Richard) Cortez, my dear friend, Mr. Joaquin Spamer and Mr. Mario Reyna. They have done an outstanding job. Ultimately, our future rests on regionalization. We need to work together. We need to quit with the competitions. Let's all get together. Let's put our egos aside, and let's get to work together.”
