12/30/2009
Report Reveals Opportunities To Increase Container Cargo Traffic
Analysis suggests cargo volumes in Louisiana
could triple over next 20 years
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Economic Development and the
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, or DOTD,
released the results of an analysis commissioned by the two
departments to assess Louisiana's competitiveness relative to
attracting a major increase in container traffic volumes, as well
as to examine a variety of options for achieving increased
container volumes over the next 20 years.
"International trade has long been a major driver of Louisiana's
economy. With the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal, the
timing was right to take a hard look at how Louisiana can best
position itself relative to attracting containerized cargo over the
next 20 years," said LED Secretary Stephen Moret. "The results of
the analysis certainly suggest a significant growth opportunity for
container volumes, but they also indicate that we should not
neglect our traditional strengths in bulk products where we have
several distinct competitive advantages. Accordingly, we plan to
focus additional attention on identifying opportunities to
strengthen our competitiveness in bulk products."
"This is an excellent report that, combined with other recent
port analyses, provides a blueprint for public policy decisions
with respect to ports and containers," said DOTD Secretary William
D. Ankner, Ph.D. "I look forward to working with LED and the port
community to capitalize on the opportunities presented in this
report."
Key findings of the analysis, which was conducted by A.T.
Kearney, include:
- Louisiana container ports are most competitive on two trade
lanes: (1) trade between any overseas market and the local
Louisiana/Arkansas market and (2) the North-South trade lane with
Latin America.
- Louisiana's container volume is expected to nearly triple over
the next 20 years, from approximately 235,000
20-foot-equivalent-units, or TEUs, in 2008, to approximately
660,000 TEUs in 2028.
- Louisiana's current container facility at the Port of New
Orleans' Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal should be able to
accommodate the forecasted container volumes through 2028 by making
some operational improvements and limited infrastructure
development.
- Any greenfield, transformational port concepts intended to add
significant incremental container volumes would have several
economic and operating challenges to overcome. These challenges
include increased distance for vessels to travel, extended
end-to-end shipping cycle times, additional handling costs, a
requirement for supporting infrastructure and/or potential
competitive responses from railroads and trucking carriers.
- Louisiana enjoys a unique competitive advantage for bulk
products because of its geographic location and the Mississippi
River. Additional targeted efforts to expand bulk products
opportunities (not an objective of this particular project) likely
would yield positive results.
A.T. Kearney's analysis was based on four major inputs: the
comparative results of an end-to-end supply chain cost model
(including analyses of time and cost for containerized cargo
transit between various markets in the U.S. and around the world);
interviews with a variety of Louisiana stakeholders; interviews
with shipping lines, railroads and other subject matter experts;
and the comparative results gathered in a Port Attractiveness
Framework, which examined the attributes of Louisiana's current and
potential ports relative to 35 leading North American ports.
For an electronic copy of the report, e-mail Matt Braud at mbraud@la.gov.
