Green Articles
A TIGHT SQUEEZE
A state report finds Louisiana must act swiftly to upgrade its archaic waterways to keep maritime industry prospering in the future
Times-Picayune :By Jen DeGregorio : Sunday, December 16, 2007
Louisiana must take "serious measures" if it wants to stay competitive in the national maritime industry, says a state report that is being described as the first comprehensive look at the economic impact of local waterways.
Such measures include more public investment, a statewide marketing strategy and a slew of construction projects, ranging from channel-dredging to real estate development, that could cost billions of dollars.
If Louisiana ignores those needs, the report warns, it could lose out to Gulf states better equipped to handle a surge in international commerce that promises to increase cargo operations by 33 percent in the next 10 years.
Baton Rouge consulting firm Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc. prepared the 256-page document for the state Department of Transportation and Development, which about a year ago asked for an inventory of Louisiana's river and ports system and details about its contribution to the state economy.
The study's findings, recently made public, are being incorporated into a larger statewide transportation plan that will be used to prioritize spending for public projects.
"What we were trying to do was demonstrate the importance of the waterways, and the way you do that is through economics," said Sharon J. Balfour, administrator of the transportation department's marine and rail division. "No one knew the whole system and how it functions and where we stand with it."
While the Mississippi River often garners the most attention, Louisiana's marine system consists of a larger network of some 2,800 miles of navigable waters that touch 44 of the state's 64 parishes. Among the report's considerations were the Calcasieu, Red and Atchafalaya rivers, Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway -- a web of manmade canals and natural arteries that stretches from Texas through the Eastern Seaboard. The report also analyzed how the state's 39 ports handle cargo volumes that total about 485 million tons each year.
Together, those assets wield tremendous economic power. One in seven jobs in the state is considered waterway-dependent, according to the report. Those jobs create $3.8 billion in earnings, an amount equivalent to about 13 percent of the state's gross domestic product. The industry also raises about $1.9 billion in tax revenue from direct, indirect and induced sources.
"It validated what we already knew, and it did show us new projections for the use of the waterways and where we might find a need for improvement," Balfour said of the report.
The document describes a litany of physical "constraints" that could keep Louisiana from capitalizing on a growing and evolving market for world trade.
Shallow shipping channels, aging infrastructure and a lack of connectivity between ports and transportation nodes, such as railroads, were among the most pressing concerns.
Topping the list of needs was a new lock system at the Port of New Orleans. The lock system allows vessels to pass between the Mississippi River and the Industrial Canal, which then connects to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Dating to the early 1920s, the current lock is too narrow for many modern watercraft, causing major delays at the critical juncture. One problem is that towboats typically move as many as 15 barges at a time. Because such large groups of barges can't be pushed through the locks at once, towboats often have to stop in front of the lock, break down the load, and move each barge through separately.
The report recommends that the lock be widened immediately, particularly because the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, an alternate route to the Industrial Canal, will soon close. Congress has already approved the widening of the lock, but the project has been waylaid in court by New Orleanians who sued due to environmental concerns about the widening process.
Two other pieces of maritime infrastructure that the study identifies as being in critical need of improvement are the Simmesport railroad bridge, deemed too low along the Atchafalaya River route between Morgan City and Shreveport, and an aging lock system at Bayou Sorrel, a connecting point on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Baton Rouge and Morgan City.
Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association, interpreted the report as a sign that public officials are beginning to realize that waterways need more care and maintenance.
"Our country is not paying enough attention to our infrastructure on the waterway system, as we did 50 or 100 years ago," he said. "We're living off of the investments of our forefathers. While they saw the waterways as tremendously important . . . we've now run them to their limit."
The report does not shed light on exactly where to drum up the billions of dollars it says are needed to get the state's waterways up to snuff. Indeed, a lack of financing for such projects falls on a list of intangible constraints the report stated Louisiana must also address if it wants to remain competitive.
Other obstacles include the lack of a statewide marketing and planning strategy that would look at the waterway system as a whole, instead of a disparate network of autonomous port authorities acting in their own interest.
The report recommends setting up a coalition to represent state ports, as well as establishing a trust fund or other mechanism that could create more money for port-related projects.
At a time when lawmakers and business leaders are calling for more investment in ports and international trade, findings in the state report come as particularly salient.
Just last month, GNO Inc., a business group for the New Orleans area, released a study identifying the maritime industry as one of four sectors the region should target for economic development. Meanwhile, a cluster of Louisiana business leaders has been lobbying Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal to make ports and trade the state's top economic development initiative. The group is led by Conrad Appel, who just stepped down from a five-year term on the dock board of the Port of New Orleans.
Gary P. LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said he hopes the groundswell will persuade lawmakers to focus on maritime issues during the next legislative session in Baton Rouge.
"We have a lot of resources which, as far as I'm concerned, could be better utilized," he said.
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Jen DeGregorio can be reached at jdegregorio@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3495.