NEW ORLEANS – A few Louisiana businessmen and politicians are dreaming big – as big as the mega-ships of the future that may grow so large they won’t be able to make it into the Mississippi River and up to the Port of New Orleans.
They envision those super-size ships unloading and loading goods 100 miles downriver where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico – where today there’s only open water – an idea that some experts and competitors find far-fetched.
That hasn’t stopped the dreamers, who see an opportunity with the opening of an expanded Panama Canal later this year that will allow even bigger ships to move goods around the world. At this offshore port, “there will never be a restriction regardless of the size of ships,” said A.G. Crowe, a Republican state senator and president of a state authority involved in the port’s development.
In August, the port’s backers said they had $25 million in private financing to build the first terminal to handle bulk goods such as grains and coal. The group is applying for permits.
But the dream is much bigger. Backers envision $10 billion worth of terminals to handle everything from oil to cargo containers. And Louisiana’s government has set aside about 2,000 acres of open water for the development of this Louisiana International Gulf Transfer Terminal.