Air

Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport (BRO) is setting records for passenger service, with a 22 percent increase in 2006. It has more daily flights than ever before and leads all airports in the Southwest in load factor, the percentage of seats occupied on each flight.

Travelers can fly into or out of Brownsville several times a day on Continental Airlines through its Houston hub. From there, connections are available to 294 destinations worldwide. BRO is the only airport in the Rio Grande Valley to offer Midnight Express Air Cargo Service. The airport is also home to the largest Free Trade Zone in the United States.

BRO is the only airport in the Rio Grande Valley with 24/7 customs and immigration service. International flights carrying movies stars, royalty, presidents and corporate leaders often stop in Brownsville to clear customs and continue as a domestic origin flight.
 

Sea – Barge

Brownsville is the only Texas border city with a deep-water port. The Port of Brownsville’s first-class cargo and fishing port is connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a 17-mile, 42-foot-deep channel. Products going to and from the Rio Grande Valley, northern Mexico and the world pass through the Port of Brownsville, which is also home to the local shrimp fleet. Rail lines and truck routes from both sides of the border connect with the port for cargo transport.

In 2005 tonnage passing through the port rose 19.6 percent to 4.5 million metric tons, the highest total since 2002. Of cargo shipped through the port, 47 percent was iron and steel products.

All waterfront facilities on the Brownsville Ship Channel, at the Main Harbor and at the Fishing Harbor are owned by the Brownsville Navigation District (BND). Certain fishing and small craft facilities are leased to private operators, but all deepwater facilities in the Main Harbor are operated as public facilities. Vessels and agents are assigned berths at the discretion of the BND. Stevedoring contractors perform vessel loading and discharge.

The BND owns and controls more than 40,000 acres of land adjoining the Turning Basin and Ship Channel. This acreage is available for industrial development. In recent years, over $250 million worth of industrial development has been located on Port property, including tank farms, light manufacturing, seafood processing, steel fabrication and grain handling facilities. Plant sites of virtually any size — with access to the deepwater harbor, rail connections, paved highways and utilities — may be rented on long-term leases at attractive prices from the BND. More information on the Port and BND’s services is available at www.portofbrownsville.com.
 

Rail

Union Pacific’s lines run through the city and provide direct access to Mexico. From the Mexico crossing at the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge, Ferrocarriles Nacionales (the Mexican National Railway) can move railcars to any part of the country.

The railroad known as the Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railroad (BRG) is a short-line railroad formed for the purpose of providing exclusive common-carrier transportation to all facilities in the Brownsville Navigation District of Cameron County, Texas. The railroad operates, and will continue to operate, on behalf of the Brownsville Navigation District. The BRG operates under separate management and control from the district, and all traffic is interchanged with the Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) at its Olmito yard.