The leaders of the Port of New Orleans and one of its largest commercial partners on Friday underscored the growing urgency of advancing the port’s multi-billion-dollar container terminal and road project — a development they say is central to the region’s industrial future.
Speaking at the port’s annual “State of the Port” gathering at the Sheraton Hotel, Port Commission Chair Michael Thomas, Port NOLA CEO Beth Ann Branch, and Ports America CEO Matthew Leech each stressed that the Louisiana International Terminal, planned for Violet in St. Bernard Parish, cannot move forward until a long-overdue federal permit is issued.
Branch said she remains hopeful the project can still break ground this year, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given no timeline for releasing its findings. “We’re working very closely with the Corps and we have regular check-ins,” she said, noting that the port has already spent three and a half years and funded more than 40 studies on the terminal’s environmental, economic, traffic and community impacts. “But we can’t do anything until we have a permit.”…