THE St Louis regional ports and the St Louis Regional Freightway fully support developing the Louisiana International Terminal (LIT) in New Orleans, reports Ventura, California's gCaptain.
The LIT represents a container terminal initiative situated along the Lower Mississippi River, with the primary goal of enhancing cargo logistics for industries such as advanced manufacturing, agribusiness and port operations in the Southeast and Midwest regions.
This US$1.8 billion container terminal project will occupy 400 acres of Port NOLA's land in Violet, Louisiana, just downstream from New Orleans.
Introducing this terminal will eliminate air-draft limitations, enabling larger vessels to access Port NOLA and significantly amplifying Louisiana's import and export capacity.
In 2017, the St Louis region's ports entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Port NOLA, aimed at bolstering trade and cargo traffic, particularly through container-on-barge services.
This service currently facilitates the movement of an average of 30,000 TEU per year between New Orleans, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, Memphis, and now St Louis.
Additionally, the St Louis Regional Freightway is actively assisting Port NOLA in securing federal infrastructure funding for the LIT project.
Often referred to as the "Ag Coast of America," the St Louis region boasts a 15-mile stretch along the Mississippi River that handles the highest grain and fertiliser barge transportation in the nation's inland waterway system.
Leveraging the region's robust transportation network, which includes six Class I railways and four major interstates located within 500 miles of one-third of the US population, the LIT will play a pivotal role in enhancing the nation's global competitiveness and bolstering freight volumes, particularly for agricultural commodities.
"The Port of New Orleans is proud to be a global gateway to the middle of the United States and into Canada through the St Louis corridor of the Mississippi River system," said Port of New Orleans CEO Brandy Christian.
from: shippingazette