Mega-port under question

Port of S. La. director says bring on new business or more answers

If the recently announced Louisiana International Deepwater Gulf Transfer Terminal Authority (LIGTT) offshore mega-port sends more business to the Port of South Louisiana, Paul Aucoin said he’s all for it.

But, if not, the port’s executive director questions the project’s purpose and viability.

“If they can send me a ship to my port I’m all for it, but if they bypass my port then I don’t understand why they are trying to compete with the five deep water ports in Louisiana. If they want to compete with us, they’ll find out what real competition is.”

Last month, the LIGTT launched the initial $25 million phase of the offshore mega-port projected to open by the third quarter of next year, the initial work of a $10 billion project funded by private investment.

A development group, LIGTT Midstream Holdings, has been formed to build a dry bulk facility that would transfer cargo from massive ships to shallow draft ships and barges that could navigate upriver or go to other ports on the Gulf of Mexico.

The facility is planned three miles off the coast of Plaquemines Parish and 20 miles south of Venice. Plans call for the division handling grains, beans, fertilizers and other bulk items.

If the focus is on unloading  cargo from mega ships that can’t pass under the Huey Long Bridge onto smaller ships that can come down the river to the ports, then Aucoin said he supports that effort. But he questioned the need or viability of the terminal if it’s intended to load the cargo onto barges.

“The idea of a transfer port is nothing new,” he said. “The question is, is there a place for it? My question is why would a mega ship want to come to the mouth of the Mississippi River? They think they know why, I don’t.“Most cargo is time-sensitive,” he said. “I can’t see where they would go through a transfer to get to the five ports on the lower Mississippi that they’re already servicing.”

Aucoin said he’s getting mixed messages about how this will be done.

The Port of South Louisiana, upriver near LaPlace, handles the same dry bulk cargo the first phase of LIGTT intends to transfer.

Future phases call for terminals for liquid bulk cargo, liquefied natural gas, upstream pipelines and container cargo.

Christine Lowenberg, executive project manager, called the offshore mega-port one of the most important infrastructure projects in U.S. history. Lowenberg also said the project will create “tens of thousands of jobs.”

Other members of the LIGTT Midstream Holdings management team include co-managers Tom Thornhill, a Slidell attorney and former state representative, and Jim Woodworth, as well as Jimmy Faircloth, former executive counsel to Gov. Bobby Jindal.

However, Aucoin isn’t the only one questioning the project’s viability.

Gary LaGrange, CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said in a statement, “We don’t see the feasibility in duplicating what is already in existence with plans to expand. Louisiana’s present and future container operations are at the Port of New Orleans. Funding of more than $300 million has been invested in the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, which is served by six class one railroads … with a new $25.1 million intermodal transfer terminal currently under construction. Future plans call for the terminal to be expanded to a capacity of 1.5 million (containers).”

The project requires approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard. Company executives say permitting could be complete in 9 to 12 months, allowing dry bulk operations to begin by late next year.

According to Aucoin, the project has long been in the works, but downsized from a container facility to the now planned bulk cargo – buoy system.

Although the Port of South Louisiana is expected to have another record breaking year in tonnage and vessels, he said they remain on the watch for anything that could hurt the port economically.

“I’m always concerned about anything that may affect the port, but we will always adjust to whatever is out there,” he said. “We’re not going to put our head in the sand. We will always be concerned, and always to compensate and adjust.”

The port district has seven oil storage terminals and four refineries with more demand driving more storage and refining business, Aucoin said. Overall, the district encompasses 64 industries, with the largest of them including Dow, Motiva, Monsanto, Randa, Shell Chemical and Walmart, that have their own docks and decide where the cargo moves.

“We’re still storing oil and making gasoline in the port district so we’re not very affected by the price of oil other than the people who work directly in that industry,” he said. “With the low cost of natural gas and the deep water in our 54 miles of river, we have right now $14.5 billion of projects that want to locate in the port district and five of them are foreign companies.”

Aucoin said he expects to announce another $1 billion of growth at the port by end of this year from businesses in Russia, India, Canada, China and Japan looking to take advantage of low-cost gasoline and deep water of the Mississippi River.

“It’s all good here at the Port of South Louisiana,” he said.