This is the fourth and final in a series of excerpts taken from Sheer Will: the Story of the Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel, Chapter 8 War and Recovery, which highlights the impact of Pearl Harbor and World War II on Houston.
A lot had changed during World War II, and more was going to change in the following years. During the depression, and then the war, badly needed new construction and upgrades to port facilities had been sidelined. That was not unique to the Port of Houston; other ports needed to make improvements too. Almost the whole of Eurasia needed to rebuild after the war. And in America, things that were neglected during the depression, and then during the war, needed to be fixed, expanded, or replaced. All combined, this caused high demands for labor and material, causing price hikes everywhere. So while money had been secured for many of these efforts, the original amounts appropriated were not enough to keep pace with postwar inflation. Nevertheless, port officials kept at it and made improvements when and where possible.
A lot had changed during World War II, and more was going to change in the following years. During the depression, and then the war, badly needed new construction and upgrades to port facilities had been sidelined. That was not unique to the Port of Houston; other ports needed to make improvements too. Almost the whole of Eurasia needed to rebuild after the war. And in America, things that were neglected during the depression, and then during the war, needed to be fixed, expanded, or replaced. All combined, this caused high demands for labor and material, causing price hikes everywhere. So while money had been secured for many of these efforts, the original amounts appropriated were not enough to keep pace with postwar inflation. Nevertheless, port officials kept at it and made improvements when and where possible.
The war had its impact on port leadership, too. Various officials resigned over the course of that period to take war-related positions, departed for military service, or simply their terms ended. Frequent changes continued in the postwar years, too. Although port leadership meandered like the upper Buffalo Bayou, an operational agenda was sustained. Albert Thomas was the local congressman with U. S. House of Representatives. Much of his early focus was on the improvement of the Houston Ship Channel, resulting in a fresh channel survey in 1941. In 1944, recommendations were made to widen parts of the channel, and within a year, money was appropriated. In addition, efforts were completed to acquire the last of the city of Houston harbor facilities. In doing so, the port now had full control over all onshore public facilities along the channel. They just needed to be improved or maintained. But then, there was still the issue of labor and material.
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| Grain and goods shipped out of the Port of Houston to help a war-weary world rebuild, driving Houston growth into the 1950s. |
Somehow, the port seemed to make do in the early postwar years. While public facilities were slow to be refurbished or expanded, the channel exploded with industrial traffic. The wartime legacy left Houston and its port with a massive petrochemical complex emerging with new products and processes for world markets. Where possible, defense industries were retooled and converted to output for commercial purposes.
America as a whole became the breadbasket to a hungry, war-weary world. Much of the grain produced was shipped out through the Port of Houston. Moreover, America was rebuilding Europe, Japan, and much of the Pacific. With industrial output of the nation in overdrive, annual traffic between 1946 and 1952 grew to more than 3,700 vessels carrying 46.6 million tons. Over that same period, the Port of Houston became the second largest U.S. port in tonnage. And in 1948, a milestone was reached when the value of the tonnage exceeded a billion dollars and then two billion by 1952. That milestone, however, would only signal the eve of an new era for the Port of Houston and shipping as a whole. What came next revolutionized oceangoing cargo, and it began in Houston...containerization.
