Louisiana port developments proceed amidst global commerce uncertainties

Billions of dollars of new marine terminal facilities are being developed along the Lower Mississippi River as Louisiana ports and private partners – seemingly undaunted by tariff concerns and related global uncertainties – look to welcome larger vessels and greater activity to the nation’s most prominent waterway.

Coinciding with completion of the federally backed $250 million endeavor to bring the channel depth to 50 feet, the latest infrastructure is to include the Port of New Orleans’ Louisiana International Terminal and the Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District’s Louisiana Gateway Port.

Heading up the Mississippi River and generally proceeding in a northwesterly direction, then doubling back to coastal and inland facilities not along the Mississippi, here’s the latest on vital port facilities of Louisiana:

Louisiana Gateway Port

Propitiously situated near the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Gateway Port is moving forward with what officials of the newly rebranded Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District are projecting to within five years become the fifth-largest U.S. port as measured by tonnage throughput.

Advancing with a $500 million investment from A.P. Møller-Mærsk arm APM Terminals, a state-of-industry container terminal is being developed to provide access at river depths of 50 feet or more, with neither air-draft nor navigational restrictions, while furnishing barge, rail and highway connectivity and ample land availability in a highly rural area. With its jurisdiction encompassing the first 81 miles of the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Gateway Port is being touted to serve global markets for oil, gas, grain, coal, liquefied natural gas and more. Initial terminal development is to cover 200 acres, with potential for several hundred acres of expansion.

Recently joining the Louisiana Gateway Port executive team led by Charles Tillotson, in his third year as executive director, are Patrice A. Bell as chief administrative officer and Shannon Glapion as chief financial officer.

United Bulk Terminals

A key private operation within the Plaquemines jurisdiction, T. Parker Host’s United Bulk Terminals facility in Davant, Louisiana, is one of the largest bulk terminals in the U.S. Gulf region. Since acquired in 2019 by HOST, significant investments have been made to enhance efficiencies and increase capacity.

Providing extensive loading, discharging and storage capabilities along 3 1/2 miles of waterfront at Mile Marker 55 of the Mississippi River, the 1,200-acre site primarily handles export coal and petroleum coke while able to accommodate additional bulk commodities.

The terminal, which has capacity to annually handle as many as 12 million tons of cargo, features two continuous barge unloaders, midstream buoys and a pair of floating cranes, plus two barge fleets with a total of as many as 500 barges. Ground storage is offered for as many as 1.5 million tons of cargo.

St. Bernard Port

Located just down the Mississippi River from New Orleans, between Mile Marker 81 and Mile Marker 91, St. Bernard Port, Harbor & Terminal District – along with longtime marine terminal operator Associated Terminals – has completed a major reconstruction of docks at its Chalmette Slip. The $38 million undertaking represents the most ambitious project in the 65-year history of the port district.

The rebuilding endeavor, which followed demolition of Section A of Dock 1 and Section F of Dock 2, is anticipated to increase by as much as 25 percent the facility’s capabilities for throughput of ferrous and nonferrous metals, as well as fertilizer and other bulk, breakbulk and project cargos. The renovated docks are to be supported by additional warehouse capacity.

Also, St. Bernard Port has refurbished the 60-year-old, nearly 500-foot-high smokestack that stands as a remnant of a long-shuttered Kaiser Aluminum and Chemicals Corp. plant on Chalmette property acquired by the port in 1989. Ladders and catwalks have been restored, and lighting has been installed to showcase the iconic feature and the port district while meeting Federal Aviation Administration standards.

Port NOLA

Billed as the largest public economic development in the state, the $1.8 billion Louisiana International Terminal, or LIT for short, is starting to take shape in Violet in St. Bernard Parish. The site is downriver from the Crescent City Connection bridge clearance restriction and existing facilities of Port NOLA, as the Port of New Orleans is now known.

Design work is nearly complete and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitting process is well along for the LIT project, with federal, state and port funding buttressed by a combined $800 million from leading North American terminal operator Ports America and Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Terminal Investment Ltd. arm. Construction is anticipated to start later this year.

LIT enjoys support from more than a dozen ports in six states and from major trade and agricultural associations throughout the American Heartland. The transformational development, which is to augment Port NOLA’s recently modernized Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal Complex, is projected to generate more than 18,500 direct and indirect Louisiana jobs by 2050 plus open substantial opportunities for manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and other value-added operations.

Among terminal operators in Port NOLA is New Orleans Terminal, which offers seamless, cost-effective intermodal links between ship, truck, rail and barge.

Avondale Global Gateway

On the West Bank of the Mississippi River, about 7 miles upriver from New Orleans, the privately owned and operated Avondale Global Gateway continues to enhance its flexible offerings for handling of breakbulk and project cargos, including aluminum, steel and massive wind energy units.

Venerable terminal operator and stevedoring firm T. Parker Host, which acquired the former Avondale Shipyard property in 2018 and reopened it as a modern maritime commerce hub in 2022, has expanded the facility’s gate complex, including increasing its number of truck scales to four, in collaboration with the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission. Furthering multimodal connectivity, HOST also has established a rail link with Union Pacific service.

The 275-acre Avondale Global Gateway facility offers 1.2 million square feet of indoor warehouse space, plus expansive uncovered laydown areas, and affords Foreign-Trade Zone benefits, further facilitating its advancement as a focal point for offshore wind energy development in the Gulf.

Port of South Louisiana

The March announcement of Hyundai Motor Group to invest $5.8 billion in a new manufacturing facility on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in Ascension Parish has brought excitement to the Port of South Louisiana and the surrounding region, with expectation of creation of 5,400 direct and indirect jobs. Hyundai Steel Co.’s ultra-low-carbon steel production plant, to be built on a 1,700-acre tract in the RiverPlex MegaPark, is part of the automaker’s drive to establish a fully integrated, made-in-America supply chain.

Hyundai Steel Co. is partnering with the Port of South Louisiana to build a deepwater dock for handling shipments of steel and related materials. The company plans to annually import about 3.6 million tons of iron ore while shipping out completed coils via rail and truck to vehicle-making plants.

Serving as the primary hub for exports of grain shipments from the U.S. Midwest, the Port of South Louisiana, spanning 54 miles on both sides of the Mississippi River upriver from New Orleans, continues to be among the largest ports in the Western Hemisphere as measured by annual tonnage.

Port of Greater Baton Rouge

Encouraged by a report from World Trade Center New Orleans and Martin Associates offering a roadmap for collaborative success of key Louisiana ports, officials of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge are looking to further enhance facilities in Port Allen, across the Mississippi River from the state’s capital city.

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge’s container-on-barge service partnership with Port NOLA, launched in 2016 with Seacor AMH to bring plastic pellets downriver for export, is expected to get a boost from return of Mediterranean Shipping Co. service to the port’s inland rivers barge terminal, where the storage yard has been expanded to accommodate nearly 1,800 containers.

Meanwhile, in concert with the new report’s emphasis on green energy opportunities, plans for Grön Fuels’ $1 billion hydrogen production facility are slowly advancing, and sustainable biomass leader Drax Group – a Port of Greater Baton Rouge partner for more than a decade – expects to benefit from rehabilitation and expansion of the port’s northernmost dock. The project, to allow simultaneous accommodation of five ships, is to mark the port’s first major berth expansion since 1986.

Port Manchac

Sitting on the northwestern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, about 35 miles northwest of New Orleans, the South Tangipahoa Parish Port Commission’s 140-acre Port Manchac intermodal terminal is about to begin its next phase of redevelopment, looking to utilize a $10 million infrastructure grant from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

The latest projects are to include rail bridge and storage track construction to enhance storage and transloading capabilities for those taking advantage of direct access to the Canadian National Railway mainline; expansion of an existing hard-surfaced laydown storage pad; further floodwall protection against storm surges; and upgrades to barge and boat storage operations, including those of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and state and local first responders. Also, a new fire suppression system is being put in place.

Among those to benefit from these upcoming infrastructure endeavors, as well as recently completed harbor dredging and other improvements, is Port Manchac’s largest tenant – Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania-based industrial gas leader Air Products – which, adjacent to the port terminal, continues its research and development of the world’s largest carbon-capture project.

Port Fourchon

The biggest news these days at the Greater Lafourche Port Commission’s Port Fourchon – Louisiana’s southernmost port – is the plan of Metairie, Louisiana-based Argent LNG to develop a state-of-industry export facility for liquefied natural gas on 144 acres under long-term lease from the port. In a related development, Port Fourchon has secured approval to proceed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on dredging its channel to 50-foot depth while widening it to more than 475 feet.

At a first-phase cost estimated at $10 billion, the Argent LNG facility is expected to have an annual throughput capacity of as many as 20 million tons, pending a waterway suitability assessment and overall federal approvals. Argent officials are hoping to begin global exports by 2030.

The Argent facility also is to include a mid-scale plant tailored to supply LNG for next-generation LNG-powered offshore supply vessels operating in the Gulf of America. Port Fourchon has long been a primary hub for offshore energy activities, with wind power most recently joining traditional oil and gas among sectors benefiting from Port Fourchon’s strategic location and infrastructure.

Port of Morgan City

Twenty miles from the Gulf of America via a federally authorized, 20-foot-deep channel, the Port of Morgan City marine terminal anticipates completion by mid-2027 of its West Dock expansion, to increase that dock’s waterfront space to 1,900 linear feet. That project follows finishing a year ago of East Dock expansion.

Situated at the confluence of the Atchafalaya River and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Port of Morgan City offers users what officials call multidirectional, multimodal, multipurpose options. Located just off four-lane U.S. 90 (future Interstate 49), the port not only provides ready highway access, but also furnishes rail spurs connecting to Class I operators BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.

As rail demand at the Port of Morgan City continues to grow, plans are moving forward for development of additional on-site rail spurs, as well as more laydown space for a variety of cargos. Activities at the port include transfers of steel plate from rail to truck to go to nearby fabrication yards; truck-to-rail moves of chemicals used in oil and gas exploration and production; and crossdock transfers of numerous commodities.

Port of Lake Charles

With a pair of custom-built shiploaders having recently been put in place at its dry bulk terminal and, through a $35 million investment, seven small warehouses being replaced by a 176,000-square-foot, clear-span building, the Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District’s Port of Lake Charles is looking ahead to additional projects with investments totaling $290 million.

Ongoing and planned undertakings at the port include build-out of a trio of transit sheds (numbers 6, 7 and 8), including construction of a new roll-on, roll-off berth; Industrial Canal turning basin infrastructure improvements, adding two more deepwater berths; acquisition of two rail-mounted mobile harbor cranes; and development of a multiuse transload facility.

Located along the Calcasieu River Ship Channel in Southwest Louisiana, the Port of Lake Charles continues to enjoy steady growth in cargo volumes while enhancing its position as a hot spot for liquefied natural gas exportation, including from the Cameron LNG facility on a channel-front Hackberry site leased from the port district. Cameron LNG’s installation is among more than $100 billion in industrial projects completed or in the works in the region.

Port of Caddo-Bossier

In Northwest Louisiana, at the head of navigation on the Red River Waterway, 212 miles from the Mississippi River, the Port of Caddo-Bossier, with acquisition in 2024 of 1,000 acres of land, has grown its campus to now encompass 5,000 acres in Caddo and Bossier parishes.

In late 2024, the port culminated a 10-month, $20 million project with turning on of a new line bringing water from Bossier City, and port officials cut the ribbon on a 40,000-square-foot warehouse next to a 100,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2022, with both buildings being used by Odyssey Logistics for storage of products of port tenants. Future plans calls for a new service road connection with Interstate 49.

Notable recent shipments through the Port of Caddo-Bossier include those for Minden, Louisiana-based Fibrebond Corp. of electrical modules destined for an industrial project in South Louisiana. The modules, weighing as many as 80 tons each, are moved onto barges at the port utilizing elevated piers and are then barged down the Red River to the Mississippi River en route to delivery to the project site.