DP World has signed a lease option agreement with the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, to develop a container terminal with eventual annual capacity of roughly 1 million TEUs — the Dubai-based operator's first US container terminal project since Congress forced it out of American ports in 2006.

"We've signed a lease option agreement with DP World for a development … of a container terminal in the Port," Jeffrey Pollack, chief strategy and sustainability officer for the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, told the American Journal of Transportation on Sept. 29, during the American Association of Port Authorities annual convention in New Orleans.

Corpus Christi is not currently a container port. Pollack said adding box operations would significantly diversify a cargo base heavily centered on energy — crude oil, LNG, refined petroleum products, agricultural commodities and industrial cargo.

How big is the planned terminal?

By the standards of the largest US gateways, the operation would be relatively modest. Pollack said officials envision capacity ultimately topping out around 1 million TEUs annually — a fraction of what major East and West Coast ports handle, but enough to establish Corpus Christi as a container player on the Gulf Coast.

The agreement marks DP World's first container terminal development on the US Gulf Coast. It follows exclusive negotiations for a long-term lease that the two parties first announced in June, under which DP World would design, build and operate the terminal. At that stage, talks focused on terminal design, capacity planning and the project's investment structure.

Why does the deal carry political weight?

The project represents a potential return to US marine terminal operations for DP World two decades after a national security firestorm in Washington.

DP World, owned by the government of Dubai in the UAE, became the center of a major political controversy in 2006 when its acquisition of British terminal operator P&O would have transferred P&O's terminal leases and operations at several major US ports to the Emirati company.

The deal triggered bipartisan opposition in Congress over national security concerns, according to the US Senate Commerce Committee's Feb. 28, 2006 hearing, "Security of Terminal Operations at U.S. Ports." Lawmakers moved to block the transaction, and DP World announced in March 2006 that it would divest P&O's US operations.

The divestment came despite the George W. Bush administration's support for the transaction and its position that port security would remain under the responsibility of US Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard.

Whether the Corpus Christi project clears review more smoothly than the 2006 deal remains to be seen, but the current agreement signals DP World is willing to re-enter the US market through a greenfield build rather than an acquisition of existing terminal leases.

What does Corpus Christi bring to the table?

The port ranks among the nation's largest gateways by total tonnage, and its volumes keep climbing. Customers moved 110.3 million tons through the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in the first half of 2026, up 7.7% from the previous first-half record of 102.4 million tons set a year earlier.

The container push also has an inland dimension. The port recently acquired about 2,000 acres roughly 8 to 10 miles south of its Inner Harbor, which officials envision as an inland port supporting the proposed container terminal.

Pollack said the property can connect with all three Class I railroads serving the port and multiple interstate highway systems, potentially attracting manufacturing, warehousing and other import-export operations.

For shippers, the combination of a new Gulf Coast container gateway, tri-rail access and a large inland footprint could open alternatives to congested legacy gateways as the project advances. For DP World, which handles roughly 10% of global container traffic across more than 60 ports and terminals, the deal would restore a presence in the world's largest container import market.

What happens next?

The lease option commits both sides to advance the development from negotiation toward concrete design, capacity and investment decisions. If the project proceeds, DP World would build and operate the terminal under a long-term lease — and US container shipping would see the operator's name on American docks for the first time since the P&O divestment reshaped the ownership of major port terminals two decades ago.