Port of New Orleans seeks State Help

Officials with the Port of New Orleans called on the state to help pay for its $1b master plan, which outlines development projects to be completed by 2020, the Times Picayune reported. Port President and CEO Gary P. LaGrange said his agency needs far more than the $25m Gov. Bobby Jindal promised to dedicate to the expansion of the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, the centerpiece of the port's master plan. Jindal asked the Legislature this week to dedicate about $28 million of the state's $1 billion budget surplus to the Port of New Orleans. The bulk of that, or about $25 million, would go to building the second phase of the port's Napoleon Avenue terminal.

But LaGrange said the port needs at least $125 million during the next three years to jumpstart the $237.5 million terminal expansion, which would boost the port's ability to process the massive metal boxes that carry consumer products around the country. Source: Times Picayune