In some ways, the Houston Ship Channel serves as a microcosm of Houston itself: It’s international, industrial, and you may want to think twice before eating anything out of its opaque waters. According to the Port of Houston, which oversees operations at the Ship Channel, the maritime marvel brought in a total of $439.2 billion—or 18.6 percent of the state’s total GDP—in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. Such a significant component of Houston’s economy and history (it officially opened on November 10, 1914) understandably draws in both locals and tourists curious to know more about the city.

Lucky for them, the Sam Houston Boat Tours have returned after a monthlong hiatus for routine maintenance. Aboard the M/V Sam Houston, which first set sail in 1958, the free 90-minute tours don’t cover all 52 miles of the port, instead taking between 20,000 and 25,000 passengers annually on the first seven, which concludes around the Galena Park area. Captain Genero Ambriz, one of two senior captains of the boat, has been leading expeditions for the past 31 years. He estimates he’s made the trip thousands of times throughout his career, and to save his voice he plays a recording of a previous captain’s narration for the 50 or so passengers allowed on the ship at any given time (it can hold 100, but the number is halved for safety reasons).

During a recent tour, Captain Ambriz shared some of the lessons he’s gleaned over three decades of service, and we picked up a few of our own, too.

A captain’s typical day is very structured.

Captain Ambriz says he arrives at the port first thing in the morning to check on the day’s tour and meeting schedule. He also needs to check in with the US Coast Guard before launch so they know the M/V Sam Houston is on the water and how many passengers are on board. Coast Guard personnel also give him a traffic report to help him navigate the waters safely.

“Most of the day is pretty routine: It’s always to get the guys to make sure the boat looks clean, wash [it] down,” he says. “Both captains are on board during the tours, unless one of the other captains has a prior engagement.”

The view along the set tour route remains relatively static as well, though over the past 30 years he’s been able to witness some growth. Captain Ambriz mentions a small scrapyard that was built earlier in his career, noting that minor changes here and there were made along the way. It’s significantly larger now. Sam Houston Boat Tour passengers can watch massive cranes and excavators moving around piles of rusted metal and other industrial detritus.

The Ship Channel holds a major space in Texas history.

And we don’t mean the construction of the port itself. You can’t see the historic marker from the M/V Sam Houston—it’s on land just beyond some old docks where locals lounge and wave at tourists. But in that very spot, the boat’s namesake accepted the surrender of Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1836. The Battle of San Jacinto took place in what is now the La Porte–Deer Park area, marking the beginning of the Republic of Texas.

The Ship Channel was funded within 24 hours.

Before opening to the world in 1914, planning for the Ship Channel began in earnest around 1911. Harris County voters approved $1.25 million worth of bonds to pay for its construction, which would involve dredging the bayous to connect downtown with the Gulf of Mexico. But where would these bonds come from, anyway?

Politician and entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones—a name that should be familiar to Houston Symphony and Performing Arts Houston fans, as Jones Hall bears it—went to every bank in the city to ask if they were interested in fronting the money for what would no doubt become a significant boon to the local economy. All of them agreed within the span of a day. It’s probably safe to say, over a century later, that they received a return on their investment.

Ship flags don’t always indicate a ship’s origins.

Captain Ambriz says ships have a flag on the back that shows where it’s registered, but not necessarily where it’s from. To know its origin, you have to check the flag flying at the top of a ship. One, for example, featured a Singaporean flag on the back, as well as the appellation “Singapore” beneath it, though it flew an American flag on the top of its cabin. The reasons for this vary from boat to boat, but usually pertain to avoiding tax, staffing, and safety regulations in the country of origin. It’s a controversial practice known as flying a “flag of convenience.” According to Ambriz, most of the boats seen along the Ship Channel tour feature Panamanian registration, but will fly flags from Cyprus and Norway.

Sometimes unexpected guests show up.

Given that the boat tours are free, you’re not likely to encounter any sneaky stowaways on board trying to avoid paying fares. However, the luckiest of the lucky may catch a glimpse of some rare animal sightings among the more commonly spotted cormorants, seagulls, and pelicans.

“I have seen dolphins up here. I thought I was going crazy when I saw it…they usually like cleaner water,” Captain Ambriz says. “Even a manatee came up here…that one was really lost. I think they eventually found out that it was from Florida.”

People fish in the Ship Channel. 

Setting aside the obvious Simpsons jokes, we hope they throw back what they catch. Something tells us they won’t acquire superpowers from eating the fish.

The Ship Channel is closer to downtown than we think.

Names like the Ship Channel and Port of Houston make one imagine an exotic, far-off section of the city, unknown to those whose work calls them more toward the Medical Center, Galleria area, or downtown. Others may understandably assume that the port is located in the Galveston Bay area. Turns out, it’s only a four-mile drive east of downtown Houston to reach the edge of the Ship Channel—even less than that a century ago.

“When the Ship Channel opened, the smaller ships, back then, used to unload their cargo on Main Street,” Captain Ambriz says. They accomplished this by coming up through the bayous.

The barges docked at the port these days are too large to maneuver toward Chase Tower and Pennzoil Place, so it requires more on-the-ground logistics to make sure cargo reaches its final destination.

We depend so much on dock workers. 

Our boat tour coincided with the 2024 dock worker’s strike, so there were minimal signs of maritime activity at the Ship Channel that day. Such an eerie, ghostly tableau presented a much-needed reminder of how essential dock workers are in the national and international supply chain. We witnessed firsthand the backbreaking weights of shipping containers, giant chains, and flat surfaces that grow slick with seawater. It made us reflect on and appreciate their labor.