DP World Targets US Port Revival With New Corpus Christi Terminal
DP World plots U.S. port comeback with Corpus Christi container terminal
DP World has signed a lease option agreement with the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas to develop a container terminal capable of handling approximately 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, annually.
The agreement is an important step in the Dubai-based terminal operator’s return to U.S. container operations. DP World withdrew from American port operations in 2006 after bipartisan opposition in Congress blocked its proposed acquisition of British terminal operator P&O’s U.S. facilities over national security concerns.
If completed, the Corpus Christi project would be DP World’s first U.S. container terminal development since that controversy and its first container terminal on the Gulf Coast. The company would design, build and operate the facility under the proposed arrangement.
The lease option follows an exclusive negotiation agreement announced by DP World and the port in June. At that time, the parties said they would work through the terminal’s design, capacity requirements and investment structure before finalizing a long-term lease.
Jeffrey Pollack, chief strategy and sustainability officer for the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, confirmed the lease option agreement during the American Association of Port Authorities annual convention in New Orleans on Sept. 29.
“We’ve signed a lease option agreement with DP World for a development … of a container terminal in the Port,” Pollack told the American Journal of Transportation.
Corpus Christi would add containers to an energy-focused port
Corpus Christi is one of the largest U.S. ports by total tonnage, but it currently handles no container cargo. Its operations have historically centered on crude oil, liquefied natural gas, refined petroleum products, agricultural commodities and other industrial freight.
A container terminal would broaden the port’s cargo base and add a new type of freight activity to a gateway already handling significant volumes of energy and bulk commodities. The proposed capacity of about 1 million TEUs would be modest compared with the largest U.S. container gateways, but it would represent a substantial new operation for Corpus Christi.
For truck drivers and carriers, a container terminal would introduce additional drayage and inland freight movements in and around the port. Those operations could include container transfers between ships, rail facilities, warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing sites. The project’s effect on trucking, however, will depend on the terminal’s final design, construction schedule, cargo mix and connections to inland markets.
Port officials have pointed to the transportation network around Corpus Christi as part of the site’s potential. Property acquired by the port roughly 8 to 10 miles south of its Inner Harbor is envisioned as an inland port supporting the proposed container terminal. Officials have said the property could connect with all three Class I railroads serving the port, as well as multiple interstate highways.
Those connections could support container transfers and related import, export, warehousing and manufacturing activity. They also would be relevant to carriers planning routes between the port, regional distribution centers and customers throughout Texas and the broader Gulf Coast.
A return after the 2006 P&O controversy
DP World became the focus of intense political scrutiny in 2006 after its acquisition of P&O would have transferred leases and operating rights at several major U.S. ports to the Dubai-owned company.
Members of both parties in Congress raised national security concerns. The George W. Bush administration supported the transaction and said port security would remain the responsibility of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard. Even so, congressional opposition led DP World to announce in March 2006 that it would divest P&O’s U.S. port operations.
The Corpus Christi proposal marks the company’s most significant move back into U.S. container terminal operations since that episode. DP World has since expanded its global presence and now handles roughly 10% of worldwide container traffic through more than 60 ports and terminals.
Project comes as port volumes rise
The proposed container development comes as Corpus Christi reports record overall cargo activity. Customers moved 110.3 million tons through the Corpus Christi Ship Channel during the first half of 2026, a 7.7% increase from the previous first-half record of 102.4 million tons set one year earlier.
That growth has largely been driven by the port’s existing energy and industrial businesses. The container project would give the port another category of cargo and potentially create additional freight links for businesses seeking access to global markets.
The agreement does not establish a firm opening date or confirm that construction will begin. The parties must continue working through development, design and financial details before the terminal can move forward. For now, the lease option represents the next stage in a proposed project that could make Corpus Christi a new container gateway on the U.S. Gulf Coast while returning DP World to American port operations nearly two decades after its previous exit.
