Louisiana county in talks over Chinese container terminal feasibility

THE construction of an offshore international container terminal in outlying waters of St Mary Parish, Louisiana by Chinese investors aims to take advantage of the surge in containers after the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2015, and in turn support the area's flood prevention plans and coastal erosion.

In order for the port to be built, an artificial island would have to be constructed and new rail tracks built from the BNSF's east-west mainline across the parish, as counties are called in Louisiana.

The project is at pre-feasibility stage with interest from China Communication Construction Company (CCC) and CCCC China Harbour for a deep-water port to be located, off the coast of the St Mary Parish near the mouth of the Atchafalaya River but inside state waters.

This will take advantage of its inland intermodal links from the waterway such as I-149, the BNSF Railway, connections to six railroads in New Orleans 100 miles to the east and Canadian National Railways which opens it up Chicago, St Louis and Memphis, said parish president Paul Naquin and its economic development director Frank Fink.

Rail or truck shipment of containers will be determined by destinations with break evenbetween 250 miles and 750 miles with AAPA president Aaron Ellis putting definitive number at 500 miles.

The aim would be to siphon off one fifth of 25 million containers from China-bound container volumes headed for west coast ports of LA, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, said Mr Fink, reported the Franklin Banner-Tribune.

"They have been shipping from China completed products. What they are talking about here is the possibility of shipping parts, and we would set up assembly facilities from basically Lafayette to New Orleans."