Highlighted by advancement of a nearly $2 billion deepwater terminal downriver from New Orleans, Louisiana ports – joined by private industry partners – are confidently moving ahead with wide-ranging plans to efficiently accommodate rising cargo activity.
Meanwhile, completion of the federally backed $250 million undertaking bringing Mississippi River depth to 50 feet means safe passage for increasingly large vessels along much of the nation’s most important waterway. Led by Port NOLA, Louisiana’s ports also benefit from access to all six Class I freight railroads, as well as major Interstate highways.
Port NOLA
The Port of New Orleans, marketed as Port NOLA, continues to advance phased development of the $1.8 billion Louisiana International Terminal, or LIT, with formation in March of Louisiana International Terminal Holdings LLC, a joint venture between Ports America and Mediterranean Shipping Co. unit Terminal Investment Limited (TiL).
Strategically located in St. Bernard Parish, downriver from existing Port NOLA facilities and bridge clearance restrictions, LIT is designed to accommodate the largest containerships calling the Gulf, thus strengthening supply chain resiliency, enhancing cargo capacity and expanding U.S. exporters’ market access. Federal permitting is anticipated by yearend, with the first berth opening between three and five years after groundbreaking.
A partnership between the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Port NOLA and St. Bernard Parish is moving into its first phase the St. Bernard Transportation Corridor. Backed by more than $25 million in federal funding, secured by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., the elevated roadway is to connect LIT with the Interstate highway system, thereby improving freight mobility, reducing local road congestion, enhancing hurricane evacuation routes, and strengthening community safety and resilience.
St. Bernard Port
Down the Mississippi River from New Orleans, between Mile Marker 81 and Mile Marker 91, the St. Bernard Port, Harbor & Terminal District is benefiting from complete reconstruction of its Chalmette Slip. Now fully operational for the first time in four decades, the revitalized slip supports moves of fuel, chemicals, grain and other essential cargos.
Completed last year following a full demolition in 2020 of waterfront infrastructure dating back to 1907, the $38 million project rehabilitates and restores a critical access channel between the river and local industrial facilities. The project was made possible through combined efforts of the St. Bernard Port, Volkert Inc., longtime exclusive facility operator Associated Terminals and Boh Bros Construction, with funding split between state, federal and port fund sources. The endeavor was recognized with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s Louisiana Transportation Excellence Award.
Metallic ores and minerals represent the top inbound commodity sector at the St. Bernard Port, accounting for nearly one-third of all cargo activity at the port, while grain- and feed-related shipments reinforce the port’s importance in the agricultural supply chain.
Louisiana Gateway Port
Managing deep-draft access and services along the Mississippi River’s first 81 miles, the Plaquemines Port, Harbor and Terminal District’s Louisiana Gateway Port is in a state of transition as it searches for its next executive director. In January, Charles Tillotson, who had taken the helm in late 2022, resigned after a Louisiana legislative audit found operational and financial concerns at the port.
Port officials are declining to comment to AJOT, but reports suggest plans are now up in the air related to a new West Bank container terminal that had been promoted as an alternative to the Louisiana International Terminal.
Avondale Global Gateway
7 miles upriver from New Orleans, T. Parker Host’s Avondale Global Gateway announced in April a five-year terminal services agreement with Brazil-based Suzano, the world’s largest pulp supplier, bringing regular wood pulp imports to Louisiana for the first time in 30-plus years. The deal coincides with Suzano’s acquisition of mills in Arkansas and North Carolina.
A $13 million rail expansion at Avondale is helping support distribution throughout North America of the imported pulp. Also, warehouse upgrades have been completed at the Avondale facility, where T. Parker Host has redeveloped a former 275-acre shipyard property into a multimodal logistics hub.
Port of South Louisiana
Encompassing 54 miles in three parishes on both sides of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the Port of South Louisiana has completed its Globalplex Dock Access Bridge project, thereby strengthening cargo reliability, improving operational efficiency and expanding ability to handle heavy and oversized loads.
The bridge, dedicated in late February, provides a critical second connection between the main Globalplex facility and the 335-acre installation’s primary Mississippi River dock, operated by Associated Terminals. Port officials say the added redundancy ensures uninterrupted dock access and significantly enhances capacity to support modern freight movement, with trucks now able to operate in a circular traffic pattern.
In January, Julia Fisher-Cormier came aboard as executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, which continues to rank No. 1 in tonnage among Louisiana ports and second in tons moved among all ports of the Western Hemisphere, while serving as the nation’s top grain exporter and No. 2 U.S. energy transfer port. Fisher-Cormier, previously the port’s chief commercial officer, returns after serving as deputy secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
Port of Greater Baton Rouge
Located in Port Allen, across the river from Louisiana’s capital city, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is furthering partnerships, including collaborative marketing with four other Lower Mississippi 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 providing container-on-barge service 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 destined for the Hyundai Steel production facility in Ascension Parish.
Tenants also are enhancing facilities at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, with Louis Dreyfus Co. gearing up to accept rail and barge shipments of crushed soybean meal in addition to current exports of grain and oil seed, as well as Drax Biomass increasing its wood pellet tonnage, with shipments now heading to the United Kingdom from pellet mills in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Port Manchac
On Lake Pontchartrain’s northwestern shore, about 35 miles northwest of New Orleans, the South Tangipahoa Parish Port Commission’s 140-acre Port Manchac intermodal terminal continues phased redevelopment with $14 million in additional state and federal grants. Projects include rail bridge and storage track construction – enhancing Canadian National Railway’s transloading capabilities – with future upgrades to storage, flood protection and fire suppression, plus barge dock refurbishment.
Tenants benefiting from the upgrades include Premier Chemicals & Services LLC and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania-headquartered industrial gas leader Air Products. Adjacent to the terminal, Air Products is conducting research and development of the world’s largest carbon-capture project.
Port Fourchon
The leading service base for deepwater oil and gas activity in the Gulf of America, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission’s Port Fourchon is completing the final phase of its northward expansion, including development of a major rig repair facility at Louisiana’s southernmost port. Efforts are moving forward to deepen Belle Pass to 50 feet, to accommodate the expansion, while ongoing construction is elevating Louisiana Highway 1, the 1,700-acre port’s only access roadway.
Last July, the port commission acquired a 743-acre tract from the State of Louisiana to facilitate Argent LNG’s expansion of its $20 billion liquefied natural gas export operation.
Port of Morgan City
At the confluence of the Atchafalaya River and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, just 20 miles from the Gulf of America, the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District’s Port of Morgan City has received construction bids for its $28 million West Dock expansion, which bodes to extend waterfront access to 1,900 linear feet, with about 35 acres to be available for operations and storage. In December, the port bolstered its lift capabilities with delivery of a 275-ton-capacity Manitowoc crane.
In close coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including through use of a special-built dredger to manage low-density sediment known as “fluff,” the port is working to ensure the Atchafalaya River and related bayou channels are maintained at federally authorized 20-foot depth.
Channel maintenance is crucial to the port’s movement of high-value project cargos, produced at industrial facilities in the terminal district, for aerospace, energy support, national defense and other government contract undertakings. Performance Contractors Inc.’s Morgan City module yard has assembled 14 process modules barged to Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, with more modules in process.
Port of Lake Charles
More than $170 million in projects are advancing toward anticipated completion by yearend at City Docks of the Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District’s Port of Lake Charles. The Transit Shed 8 venture includes a 140,000-square-foot installation with deepwater access, while the Transit Sheds 6 & 7 endeavor – the largest undertaking in the port’s history at an investment of $131 million – is delivering another 200,000 square feet of enclosed space and expanding the apron to 60 feet from its present 40 feet. The site is also to feature a roll-on/roll-off ramp at 40-foot draft, and a multi-use transload facility is in future plans.
Furthermore, the port has ordered two custom rail-mounted ship unloaders for third-quarter delivery at its bulk terminal, and $45 million is being invested to add two more berthing areas along the Industrial Canal.
Recent additions to the Port of Lake Charles’ commodity mix include concrete pilings, with 205,420 tons handled in 2025, and wood pulp, with 51,924 tons of such imports by Suzano. The Southwest Louisiana port has recorded four consecutive years of tonnage and revenue records.
Port of Caddo-Bossier
Armed with a master plan balancing economic growth with community well-being, Northwest Louisiana’s Port of Caddo-Bossier is strategically advancing development of 1,000 newly acquired acres, which expand the port’s total footprint to 5,000 acres at the head of navigation of the Red River Waterway, 212 miles from the Mississippi River. Plans call for a mix of light manufacturing and commercial uses, with a buffer between heavy operations and neighborhoods, to include retail, dining and green space, plus walking and cycling trails.
Thanks to the City of Shreveport, port water tower improvements were completed in 2025, adding the port logo and reactivating approximately 2.5 million gallons of elevated storage capacity. And, last May, the Port of Caddo-Bossier shared the cost of Shreveport’s newest fire truck, based at Fire Station 20, which has primary responder responsibilities for the port.
In March, the Port of Caddo-Bossier was named by Gov. Jeff Landry as one of Louisiana’s 19 inaugural FastSites – development-ready properties positioned to compete nationally for transformative projects. The designation facilitates funding for a 2-mile rail extension on the newly acquired port land.
