14 American Journal of Transportation American Journal of Transportation ajot.com The Port of South Louisiana’s Globalplex is benefiting from a new dock access bridge. (Photo courtesy Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering) With expanded collaborations, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, in Port Allen, is busy moving agricultural shipments and other commodities. Access Bridge project, thereby strengthening cargo reliability, improving operational effi- ciency and expanding ability to handle heavy and over- sized loads. The bridge, dedicated in late February, provides a critical second connection between the main Global- plex facility and the 335-acre installation’s primary Mis- sissippi River dock, operated by Associated Terminals. Port officials say the added redundancy ensures uninter- rupted dock access and sig- nificantly enhances capacity to support modern freight movement, with trucks now able to operate in a circular traffic pattern. In January, Julia Fish- er-Cormier came aboard as executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, which continues to rank No. 1 in ton- nage among Louisiana ports and second in tons moved among all ports of the West- ern Hemisphere, while serv- ing as the nation’s top grain exporter and No. 2 U.S. energy transfer port. Fish- er-Cormier, previously the port’s chief commercial offi- cer, returns after serving as deputy secretary of the Lou- isiana Department of Trans- portation and Development. Port of Greater Baton Rouge Located in Port Allen, across the river from Louisi- ana’s capital city, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is fur- thering partnerships, includ- ing collaborative marketing with four other Lower Mis- sissippi ports – Port of South Louisiana, Port NOLA, St. Bernard Port and Louisiana Gateway Port – in pursuit of greater global trade. For a decade, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge has worked with Port NOLA and Seacor AMH in provid- ing container-on-barge ser- vice bringing plastic pellets downriver for export. More recently, the port entered into a cooperative endeavor with the Port of South Louisiana to develop dock facilities for offloading of some 4 million tons a year of iron ore des- tined for the Hyundai Steel production facility in Ascen- sion Parish. Tenants also are enhanc- ing facilities at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, with Louis Dreyfus Co. gearing up to accept rail and barge ship- ments of crushed soybean (HANDLE – continued on page 16) (HANDLE – continued from page 13)
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