New Orleans City Council members heard from a panel of lawmakers and business leaders about ways Louisiana could benefit from an expansion of the Panama Canal, the Times-Picayune reported.
With only five years to go before the expanded canal is set to open for business and flood the Gulf of Mexico with new shipping traffic, Councilman Arnie Fielkow said the council should support any plans that could make Louisiana ports stand out from their competitors.
"The greatest asset that we have in this community is the Mississippi River," said Fielkow, chairman of the council's economic development committee.
Panel members agreed about the need for a strategy to lure cargo from the canal, saying the initiative would create new jobs and tax dollars. But there was some contention about how best to accomplish the task.
Sen AG Crowe said the state's best bet would be to construct a megaport along Southwest Pass, near the mouth of the river. The world's largest cargo ships are too deep for the river, he said, and a port closer to open water would be the only hope to draw their cargo into Louisiana.
Such a facility could benefit the Port of New Orleans, he said, with smaller ships taking cargo from larger vessels to ferry upriver for distribution by rail or truck.
"It's business we don't have right now," said Crowe, who drafted legislation last year to create the Louisiana International Deep Water Gulf Transfer Terminal Authority, a state body that would govern a megaport near the river's mouth.
The complex could be up and running in as soon as two years, according to Crowe, who said a company has already proposed spending as much as US$2 billion to build a new port on state-owned land along Southwest Pass. Louisiana Economic Development is considering the idea, and a formal proposal should be made public next month, he said.
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