Port Houston hosted a Steel Roundtable event with over 40 participants, including steel traders, manufacturers and other industry partners Sept. 28 at the port’s executive building.

Port Houston’s Senior Director of Trade Development John Moseley provided opening remarks to the crowd. Director of General Cargo Facilities Randy Stiefel, provided an update on current port breakbulk and project cargo-related projects, port capital improvement projects and the status of the port after Hurricane Harvey.

Steel is an important commodity segment for the U.S., and the port has seen an increase of 40 percent of steel cargo volume this year. John Foster, chairman of the American Institute of International Steel, and Richard Chriss, president of the Institute, reported that imported steel and iron supports 1.3 million jobs in the U.S. and contributes $239.8 billion to the U.S. economy.

Port Houston handled 2.23 million tons of steel in 2016.