Port of La. receives $13.4M grant for infrastructure improvements

16th March 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer

On February 21, U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration administrator, Admiral Mark H. Buzby, joined Senator Bill Cassidy, Senator John Kennedy and Representative Garret Graves in presenting a $13.4 million Port Infrastructure Development Grant check to the Port of South Louisiana for the Globalplex Multi-Modal Connections Project.

“This funding is going to go a long way, and we are making a lot of improvements,” said Paul Aucoin, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana. 

Globalplex, a 353-acre maritime industrial park within the Port of South Louisiana, offers storage and warehousing space for manufacturing. Associated Terminals operates the public intermodal terminal, which the port owns, providing handling and storage for bulk, breakhead, and containerized cargoes for both vessels and barges. Numerous tenants rent space at the site, including Baumer Foods, Barton International, Natco Food Service, Lafarge Concrete and Evonik Industries. 

The grant required matching funds, which means that the Port will provide an equal amount for a total investment of around $25 million. The funds will allow for the construction of a heavy load capacity floor in an existing bulk cargo warehouse, conveyor improvements, rehabilitation improvements on one of the park’s access roads, a rail spur connection, and a new dock access road and bridge to support the movement of heavy cargo at the Globalplex facility.

“A lot of the improvements are connected to building 71, which is currently leased by Lafarge Holcim. We will be increasing the floor limits. Currently, the floor can hold 500 pounds per square inch, and we will be raising that to 3,000 pounds per square inch, allowing us to store 2.8 million more tons in there, so it will be accommodating a lot more cargo,” said Aucoin. 

Other changes to GlobalPlex include conveyor improvements, allowing goods to be moved from shore to ship. Currently, cargo can only be moved from ship to shore. The grant will also provide funds to improve access roads to building 71, and extend a rail spur from the building, allowing goods to be transported by train rather than truck. 

“A lot of these changes will make the port more efficient, and in turn, more environmentally friendly,” Aucoin said. “The new conveyor system has less dust emissions, and paving the access roads that are currently gravel will also reduce dust. The rail spur helps get trucks off the road. We want to have rail access in addition to barge and ship.” 

The grant will also help fund the construction of another bridge over the levee to reach the port’s two docks on the Mississippi River. 

“About five million of the grant funds will go to build another heavy duty bridge, allowing not only for more access but also for heavier cargo to be brought into our new, heavy duty warehouse,” Aucoin said. “There is a lot of new industry coming in, and a lot of the factory is built elsewhere and brought in modules. We will now be able to bring in these heavy lift items; our old bridge couldn’t support them.” 

In a cost benefit analysis required as part of the grant submission process, research indicated that these changes to Globalplex would mean $15 million in savings on vessel operating costs, $10 million in accident reduction, and $20 million in congestion reduction over the next 20 years. 

“The list goes on and on and there are all types of ways we will reduce operating and maintenance costs,” Aucoin said. “I also like the idea of reducing the environmental impacts through new technologies and efficiency.” 

Aucoin expects construction to begin in the next six months, after a public bidding process finishes. It will take about three years to finish making the improvements. 

“These things take time,” Aucoin said. “We have about $40 million in projects already underway, not including this new funding. Something is always needing to be built, or needing to be repaired, so it’s a never-ending process, but that’s our job at the port, to help our stakeholders on the river.” 

This article originally published in the March 16, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.