[1] The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves an increasing volume of inland barge traffic.

The channel is a widened and deepened natural watercourse created by dredging Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay.

The navigational head of the channel, the most upstream point to which general cargo ships can travel, is at Turning Basin in east Houston.

He plied his schooner The Rights of Man through the waters of Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou, importing supplies from the United States, and exporting cotton and hides.

He recruited six men from Ohio to work as traders, who sailed the schooner Little Zoe from Cincinnati laden with supplies such as flour and spices, nails and other hardware, and whiskey and tobacco.

In the wake of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, the inland Port of Houston was seen as a safer long-term option, and planning for a larger ship channel began.

[13] The proximity to Texas oilfields led to the establishment of numerous petrochemical refineries along the waterway, such as the ExxonMobil Baytown installation on the eastern bank of the San Jacinto River.

[16] During World War II, two large shipyards produced side-by-side at the confluence of Greens Bayou: Todd Houston Shipbuilding built mostly Liberty Ships and Brown Shipbuilding built a substantial number of destroyer escorts, submarine chasers and amphibious landing craft.

[14] The "Texas chicken" maneuver is known to mariners who regularly navigate large vessels on the Houston Ship Channel.

[17] On December 25, 2007, the Houston Ship Channel was featured on the CNN Special, Planet in Peril, as a potential polluter of nearby neighborhoods.

That year, the University of Texas released a study suggesting that children living within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the Houston Ship Channel were 56% more likely to become sick with leukemia than the national average.