Port of South Louisiana’s Matthews: Record tonnage In 2024

The Port of South Louisiana is projecting record tonnage in 2024, according to Paul Matthews, CEO, Port of South Louisiana.

The Port of South Louisiana covers a 54-mile stretch of the lower Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It begins near the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and winds through St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James parishes. The Port is regularly one of the nation’s largest by tonnage. The Port of South Louisiana is projecting a 5% increase in tonnage for 2024 with Matthews agreeing: “It's probably about a 5% increase.”

Matthews spoke to AJOT at the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) annual convention on October 29^th in Boston. He reported: “This year we recognize that we had a second straight year of tonnage growth. We haven't had that much tonnage growth in almost 10-years … Our fiscal year showed that we had another record revenue year … we are financially healthiest that we have ever been as a port.”

Matthews noted that the Port made two major announcements in 2024:

• Woodland Biofuels announced a planned $1.35 billion investment at the Port of South Louisiana to establish the world’s largest carbon negative renewable natural gas plant / ultra-green hydrogen facility. Phase 1 of this project is the largest carbon negative renewable natural gas facility globally. Phase 2 is the world’s largest carbon negative ultra-green hydrogen plant. The Toronto-based company will utilize waste biomass to produce sustainable biofuel used in transportation, heating and electricity generation.

In Phase 1 alone the company expects to create approximately 500 construction jobs and 110 high-paying, permanent, direct new jobs. Louisiana Economic Development estimates that the project will result in 259 indirect new jobs for a total of 869 jobs, 369 of which are permanent.

The new facility will be located at the Globalplex multimodal facility at the Port of South Louisiana. The company expects to permanently remove hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually and store it safely underground. Phase 1 is expected to permanently remove 210,000 tons of CO2 annually. Phase 2 will remove approximately 660,000 tons of CO2 annually.

• Life for Tyres Group Limited, Europe’s largest end-of-life tire recycling company with manufacturing facilities for sustainable commodities, announced it will invest $46 million to establish its first U.S. processing facility on 10 acres at the Port of South Louisiana.

The recycling and manufacturing plant, L4T Louisiana LLC, will convert end-of-life tires into high-quality sustainable commodities such as advanced biofuel feedstock, recovered carbon black and scrap steel. L4T expects to create 46 direct new jobs in St. John the Baptist Parish. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in 151 indirect new jobs, for a total of 197 potential new jobs in the Southeast Region.

The new investment was hailed by Governor Jeff Landry: “This new project is a perfect example of the power of the ports to drive investment and job creation in Louisiana … In addition to the tremendous impact this foreign investment will have on the state and local economies, L4T will support Louisiana-based oil and gas and petroleum chemical companies with high-quality sustainable commodities that help them achieve their carbon management goals.”