Port of New Orleans
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The Port of New Orleans is a port located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the 5th largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 12th largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo. It also has the longest wharf in the world, which is 2.1 miles (3.4 km) long and can accommodate 15 vessels at one time.[1]
The Port of New Orleans handles about 84 million short tons of cargo a year. The Port of South Louisiana, based in the New Orleans suburb of LaPlace, handles 199 million short tons. The two combined form the largest port system in the world by bulk tonnage, and the world's fourth largest by annual volume handled. In this context, the Port of New Orleans refers to itself as being "at the center of the world’s busiest port complex."
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[edit] Dock Board
The port is governed by a Louisiana state agency, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. This entity is known colloquially and in some legal references simply as the "Dock Board".[2]
[edit] Cargo and traffic
The Port of New Orleans is a major transshipment point for steel, receives more coffee imports than any other U.S. port apart from New York's, and is the largest port in the U.S. for rubber imports. Over 6000 vessels and 700,000 passengers pass through the Port of New Orleans annually.
The port's chief exports are grain and other agricultural produce from the Midwestern United States, and petroleum products. The leading imports include rubber, chemicals, cocoa beans, coffee, and petroleum. The port handles more trade with Latin America than does any other U.S. gateway, including Miami.
New Orleans is also a busy port for barges and passenger cruises. The barges transit the nation's two main inland waterways, the Mississippi River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which intersect at New Orleans. The port of New Orleans handles about 50,000 barges yearly. It also handled nearly 800,000 cruise passengers in 2004, making it one of the nation's premier cruise ports, with several ships from the Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian cruise lines based there. Post-Katrina, Royal Caribbean has yet to restore service, while Carnival and Norwegian provide service to destinations in the Caribbean Sea, Mexico and the Bahamas.
The port was damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but reopened quickly and has returned to normal operations for most cargo. Though the port's principal container facility, located at the foot of Napoleon Avenue, is fully operational, the France Road Container Terminal on the Industrial Canal remains closed.[3]
[edit] Trivia
In 1954, former French president (1995-2007) Jacques Chirac presented "The development of the port of New-Orleans", a 182-page economic thesis, to the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Port of New Orleans |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "About the Port of New Orleans". Port of New Orleans. http://www.portno.com/facts.htm. Retrieved 2006-03-09.
- ^ A U.S. Court of Appeals case refers parenthetically to the "Dock Board." – "Ex-USS Cabot/Dedalo (5th Cir. 2002)". Admiralty and Maritime Law Guide. http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/circt/5thusscabot.html. Retrieved 2006-05-14.
- ^ White, Jaquetta (2007-03-27), "Surge in general cargo bolsters Port of N.O.", Times-Picayune, http://nola.live.advance.net/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-1/1174973481295790.xml&coll=1
