Bayport Container Terminal: Ops, Drayage, and Cutoff Windows | GoFreight

Bayport Container Terminal is Port Houston's flagship containerized freight terminal at 12621 Port Road, Pasadena, TX 77586, on the Houston Ship Channel, serving as one of the fastest growing container terminals in the US Gulf. For freight forwarders and NVOCCs moving ocean freight through Houston, Bayport is where the bulk of the containerized volume actually moves: vessels berth, containers gate in and gate out, and the drayage clock starts. This glossary page covers Bayport as an operating facility, not just a name on a routing sheet: layout, gate hours, cutoff windows, drayage access, container types handled, terminal fees, and how to track a container from the vessel to the truck.

New to the terminology first? See Terminal Handling Charges (THC) Explained for the fee vocabulary that shows up on every Bayport invoice.

Facility Overview

Bayport is a purpose built container facility on the west bank of the Houston Ship Channel, adjacent to Seabrook and La Porte and inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Pasadena. It sits distinct from Port Houston's older Barbours Cut Terminal on the north side of the channel. The published Port Houston street address is 12621 Port Road, Pasadena, TX 77586; forwarders will also see the terminal referenced against Seabrook TX by third party mapping services, and either surface points to the same facility. The table below summarizes the facility profile a forwarder actually needs when booking or briefing a shipper.

For forwarders moving containerized cargo through Bayport as a regular lane, the operational data lives in your Ocean Freight Management Software: vessel schedules, berth assignments, container milestones, and demurrage clocks all belong on the same platform as the booking, not spread across carrier portals and email.

Vessel Services and Carrier Rotations

Bayport is served by the major global carriers calling the US Gulf. The carrier lineup below distinguishes the verified 2025 to 2026 Bayport call from carriers widely reported at Bayport per industry sources. For the definitive current rotation, always consult porthouston.com. Alliance realignment (the Gemini Cooperation launch in early 2025, the reshuffle of the Premier Alliance, and the ongoing Ocean Alliance grouping) continues to move specific service strings and vessel sizes.

• Maersk (verified direct Bayport call): Gulf Ocean Express (GOEX, service code U7I), the Maersk intra Americas service that moved from Barbours Cut to Bayport on 13 May 2025 (first Bayport call vessel AS Camellia 520S). Source: Maersk Gulf Ocean Express terminal change at Houston, TX.
• MSC: Widely reported at Bayport per industry sources on US Gulf strings; consult porthouston.com for current 2026 rotations.
• Hapag-Lloyd: Widely reported at Bayport per industry sources; Gemini Cooperation east west Bayport calls are not independently verified.
• CMA CGM, COSCO, and Evergreen: Ocean Alliance members widely reported at Bayport per industry sources on US Gulf trans Pacific and trans Atlantic lanes; consult porthouston.com for current 2026 rotations.
• ONE (Ocean Network Express) and Yang Ming: Premier Alliance members widely reported at Bayport per industry sources on Asia to US Gulf strings.
• ZIM: Independent Asia to US East Coast and Gulf coverage widely reported at Bayport per industry sources.

The practical implication for a forwarder is simple: check the carrier and service string on every booking rather than assuming a lane. Alliance changes shift vessel sizes, transit times, and cutoff behavior, and a booking made against last year's service string will miss the current cutoff more often than the operations team expects.

Gate Hours and Cutoff Windows

Bayport's published gate hours are below. Extended gates run in peak season and around vessel bunching. Always confirm the current schedule on the Port Houston site before dispatching a truck.

Appointment system. Bayport operates on a truck appointment system for both import pickup and empty return. Motor carriers book slots through the Port Houston trucker portal; walk in service is limited and generally reserved for exception moves. Forwarders should push the appointment booking down to their dray provider well before the free time clock starts, not after.

Cutoff windows. Cutoffs are set by the ocean carrier and service string, not by the terminal. Plan on:

• Documentation cutoff: Around 72 hours before vessel ETD for most Asia and Europe services. Later for regional and Latin America services.
• Physical gate (VGM and CY) cutoff: Around 24 to 48 hours before ETD. Some services run 72 hour physical cutoffs during peak.
• Hazmat cutoff: Often 24 hours earlier than the standard physical cutoff.
• Reefer cutoff: Sometimes tightened during peak or for specific temperature ranges.

Every carrier posts service specific cutoffs on its booking confirmation. When those numbers move (during a strike, weather event, or alliance service change), the terminal follows the carrier notice, not the base schedule.

Drayage Access and Motor Carrier Requirements

Bayport does not publish a preferred drayage carrier list. Motor carrier access is governed by Port Houston's trucker access program: the tractor must be registered with Port Houston, the driver must hold a valid TWIC card, and the trucker portal login must be active. Bayport uses a chassis pool operated under industry standard grey chassis arrangements; forwarders should confirm chassis availability with the drayage provider before dispatch, particularly during holiday peaks when pool utilization tightens.

Typical Bayport drayage turn times run 60 to 90 minutes under normal conditions and can stretch past two hours during heavy vessel arrival windows. Same day drayage catchment reliably covers:

• Greater Houston metropolitan area and industrial parks along the Ship Channel.
• Beaumont, Port Arthur, and the eastern I-10 corridor.
• Galveston County and the Freeport industrial region.
• Central Texas manufacturing along I-45 and I-10 as one day drayage.

For forwarders that already have relationships with Houston area drayage carriers, the practical selection filter is TWIC compliance, chassis pool access, and demonstrated Bayport experience under peak conditions. Bayport is not a terminal where a first time trucker learns the yard efficiently.

Container Types Handled

Bayport handles the full range of containerized cargo:

• Standard dry containers in 20 foot, 40 foot, and 40 foot high cube. This is the vast majority of the terminal's throughput.
• Refrigerated containers (reefers) for temperature controlled cargo. Bayport has a dedicated reefer stack area with plug points, monitored temperature service, and pre trip inspection capability.
• Hazardous cargo per IMDG class restrictions. Not all classes are accepted; explosives and certain radioactive classes are typically restricted or require special arrangement. Hazmat containers move under separate cutoff and gate procedures.
• Out of gauge (OOG) and flat rack cargo for oversized industrial and energy sector equipment. Advance notice, specialized handling, and additional charges apply.
• Empty containers for return, repositioning, and pool operations.

For hazmat, OOG, and reefer bookings, notify the carrier and terminal early. These container types have tighter cutoff behavior than standard dry cargo and are the most common source of missed vessels at Bayport.

Fees and Terminal Handling Charges

Terminal handling charges at Bayport are set by Port Houston Tariff 15 (the Bayport tariff) and by each ocean carrier's terminal handling pass through. For current per lift and wharfage rates, consult the current tariff at porthouston.com/business-development/tariffs; forwarders should pull the exact rates at quote time rather than from a stale reference sheet. Treat the categories below as the line items to model on every quote.

• Terminal handling charge (THC): The lift and yard handling fee, applied per container at load and discharge. Passed through by the ocean carrier on the ocean freight invoice.
• Free time and demurrage: Port Houston publishes a free time window for import containers to gate out after discharge. Beyond the free time, demurrage accrues on a daily per container basis. Rates escalate the longer the container remains in the yard.
• Per diem (chassis and container): Charged by the ocean carrier once the container leaves the terminal, until the empty is returned. Chassis per diem is separate and charged by the chassis pool operator.
• Reefer plug fee: Applied per day for reefer containers requiring power in the yard.
• Hazmat handling surcharge: Additional per container fee for hazardous classes.
• Documentation and gate fees: Assessed per shipment and per gate transaction. Small individually, meaningful in aggregate on high volume lanes.

Read the underlying mechanics in Demurrage: What It Means and How Charges Work in Shipping so the free time clock and the fee category names carry the same meaning across every Bayport quote your team issues.

How to Track a Bayport Container

Container status at Bayport is available through three overlapping systems. Forwarders that consolidate the three views into one platform stop chasing status and start acting on it.

1. Port Houston Terminal Operating System (TOS). The Port Houston tracking portal at porthouston.com accepts container number, bill of lading, or booking reference and returns current terminal status: discharged, available for pickup, holds (customs, freight, exam), and Last Free Day.
2. Ocean carrier portals. Each carrier (MSC, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, ONE, Evergreen, Yang Ming, COSCO, ZIM) publishes vessel and container status through its own portal or API. Milestones show ATA, discharge, and gate out, and vary in latency by carrier.
3. Forwarder platform integration. Purpose built Shipment Tracking & Operations Software for Forwarders pulls the terminal feed, the carrier feed, and AIS vessel data into one live view, so the ops team sees Bayport container status alongside every other port the forwarder moves through. That is the difference between reactive status calls and proactive exception management on Last Free Day.

Bayport Vessel Schedule

Vessel schedules at Bayport are published in three places, and each source updates on a different latency. For a specific voyage (for example a vessel calling on voyage V136), match on both vessel name and voyage number rather than vessel name alone, because the same vessel can rotate through Bayport multiple times a month on different voyages against different service strings.

• Port Houston vessel schedule: The Port Houston operations page publishes berthed, at anchor, and ETA vessels for both Bayport and Barbours Cut. This is the terminal side view of when the vessel will actually be worked and is the closest thing to a real time berth plan a forwarder can access without a TOS login.
• Ocean carrier schedules: Each carrier publishes its own service string schedule with ETA and ETD windows. Carrier schedules reflect service commitments; Port Houston reflects actual berth availability. When they diverge, the terminal side view is closer to what will happen on the day of arrival.
• Third party AIS trackers: Marine Traffic, VesselFinder, and similar AIS aggregators show the vessel's current position and speed toward Bayport. Useful for confirming a vessel is on approach, less useful for confirming a berth window.

Container Availability and Status Codes

A container availability lookup at Bayport returns the current terminal side status for the box, which is a different question from vessel arrival. The core statuses forwarders act on are:

• Discharged: The container has been unloaded from the vessel and is in the terminal yard, but not yet released.
• Available for pickup: Freight, customs, and terminal holds are clear and the container can be dispatched under an appointment.
• Hold (customs, freight, exam): A CBP hold, a carrier freight hold for unpaid charges, or a terminal exam hold is preventing release. Each hold type has a different resolution path and a different responsible party.
• Last Free Day: The date on which free time expires and demurrage begins to accrue. This is the operational deadline forwarders monitor most closely on any Bayport container that has already been discharged.

Container availability at Bayport is queried by container number, bill of lading, or booking reference, and the Last Free Day surfaces on the same lookup. Forwarders should pull availability daily on any discharged Bayport container, not only at pickup dispatch, so a new hold does not become a Last Free Day surprise.

Tracking Portal Login and Access

Public container tracking at Bayport does not require a login: the Port Houston container tracking page returns terminal status against a container number, bill of lading, or booking reference without account credentials. Where a login is required is on the operational side of the terminal.

• Port Houston trucker portal: Motor carriers log in to book appointment slots, view gate assignments, and manage trucker access. Registration is tied to the tractor and driver, not the forwarder.
• Ocean carrier portals: Each carrier requires its own login for shipment level views, document release, and hold resolution. Container status is often public; the release and documentation actions sit behind the carrier login.
• Forwarder platform: When Bayport is one of many terminals on the lane sheet, the practical answer is a single sign in to the forwarder platform that federates the terminal, carrier, and vessel data. That way the ops team logs in once, not once per portal per container.

Bayport vs Barbours Cut: What Is the Difference?

Both terminals are owned and operated by Port Houston, and forwarders new to the Gulf lane sometimes conflate them. Bayport is the newer, larger, and higher volume container facility. Barbours Cut is the older container terminal on the north side of the Houston Ship Channel and still handles substantial container volume. The practical differences below matter when a carrier reassigns a service between the two facilities.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Bayport Container Terminal located?

Bayport Container Terminal is located at 12621 Port Road, Pasadena, TX 77586, on the west bank of the Houston Ship Channel, around 25 miles southeast of downtown Houston. It is operated by Port Houston (main line: 713-670-2400) and is the primary container gateway for the US Gulf. Source: Port Houston Gate Information page at https://porthouston.com/toolbox/container-terminals/gate-information/.

What is the FIRMS code for Bayport Container Terminal?

The FIRMS code for Bayport Container Terminal is G431. Forwarders filing ISF, entry, and in bond moves for Bayport containers use G431 as the destination or unlading facility code.

What are Bayport's gate hours?

Bayport gate hours are Monday to Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Saturday 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM (limited service). The terminal is closed on Sunday. Extended gates run in peak season and are posted on the Port Houston website.

What is the vessel cutoff at Bayport Container Terminal?

Cutoff windows at Bayport are set by the ocean carrier and service string, not by the terminal. As a planning baseline, expect the documentation cutoff around 72 hours before vessel ETD and the physical gate (VGM and container yard) cutoff around 24 to 48 hours before ETD. Hazmat cutoffs are typically 24 hours earlier than the standard physical cutoff. Every booking confirmation posts the service specific cutoff time.

Which ocean carriers call Bayport Container Terminal?

Maersk operates a verified direct Bayport call on the Gulf Ocean Express (GOEX, service code U7I) intra Americas service, which moved from Barbours Cut to Bayport on 13 May 2025 (first Bayport call vessel AS Camellia 520S). MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, ONE (Ocean Network Express), Evergreen, Yang Ming, COSCO, and ZIM are widely reported at Bayport per industry sources on US Gulf trans Pacific, trans Atlantic, and Latin America services; consult porthouston.com for the current 2026 carrier rotations. Alliance realignment (Gemini Cooperation, Premier Alliance, Ocean Alliance) continues to shift specific service strings, so confirm the vessel and rotation on every booking.

Does Bayport have on dock rail service?

Yes. Bayport offers on dock intermodal rail service with connections to BNSF Railway and Union Pacific, so containers move directly from the terminal to rail without an off dock drayage move. This is a meaningful cost and time advantage for shippers routing to inland Texas, the US Midwest, and the Ohio Valley.

How do I check container availability at Bayport?

Bayport container availability is queried on the Port Houston container tracking page by container number, bill of lading, or booking reference. The lookup returns discharge status, any customs or freight holds, availability for pickup, and the Last Free Day. Availability is a terminal side status distinct from vessel ETA, and forwarders should pull availability daily on any discharged Bayport container until the container is picked up so a new hold does not become a Last Free Day surprise.

Where can I find the Bayport vessel schedule?

The Port Houston operations page publishes berthed, at anchor, and ETA vessels for both Bayport and Barbours Cut. Ocean carriers publish their own service string schedules with ETA and ETD windows, and third party AIS aggregators like Marine Traffic show the current vessel position. For a specific voyage such as V136, match on both vessel name and voyage number, because the same vessel can rotate through Bayport on different voyages within the same month against different service strings.

Do I need a login to track a Bayport container?

No, public container tracking at Bayport does not require a login. The Port Houston tracking page returns terminal status against a container number, bill of lading, or booking reference without account credentials. A login is required for the operational side: motor carriers log in to the Port Houston trucker portal to book appointment slots and manage gate access, and ocean carrier accounts are required for release, documentation, and hold resolution actions.

What is the difference between Bayport and Barbours Cut?

Both terminals are operated by Port Houston. Bayport is the newer, larger container facility (opened 2007, more than 1,000 acres, five berths, 2.3 million TEU capacity) on the west bank of the Ship Channel, built to accommodate neo Panamax and post Panamax vessels. Barbours Cut (opened 1977, around 230 acres, six berths) is the older container terminal on the north side of the channel and still handles substantial volume on established service strings. Bayport handles the majority of Port Houston's container throughput.

Keep Reading

• Terminal Handling Charges (THC) Explained 2026: What Forwarders and Shippers Should Know
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