b'22American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(GULFcontinued fromreportedaFebruary[2023]Intracoastal Waterway. page 20) box throughput 38,456 TEUs,This combination of traf-Wind Technology and Shell isa 33% increase compared tofic places the Port of Greater confirmation that Avondale isthe same period last year.Baton Rouge (which operates open for business and attract- Port Allen)amongthelarg-ingcommerceandinvest- p oRt ofg ReateRB aton estintonnagetermsinthe mentfromtheworldsmostR ouge , la UnitedStates.Thecombi-recognizableorganizations.The Port of Greater Batonnationofprivateandpublic PortSL congratulates everyoneRouge has a fortuitous loca- facilities regularly hit nearly involvedinmakingtodaystionattheconvergenceof80 million tons of cargo rank-announcementpossible. ThistheMississippiRiveranding in the nations top ten. In is just the beginning. theGulfIntracoastalWater- 2021thepublicterminals way. It is both a port of callalone handled nearly 16 mil-p oRt ofn ewo RleanS , la for ocean ship trafficPan- lion tons. Back in early DecemberamaxshipscancallandThroughapublic/private of 2022, Louisiana GovernorMississippiRiverbargeser- partnership between the port John Bel Edwards announcedvices as the port is adjacentandSEACORAMHthe apartnershipbetweentheto the Port Allen Lock, whichnumberofcontainershan-StateofLouisiana,thePortis the northernmost point ondled at the barge terminal has ofNewOrleans(PortoftheMississippiRiverwhere(GULFcontinued on NOLA), Ports America, Ter- bargescanaccesstheGulfpage 24)minalInvestmentLimited (TIL)part of the Mediter- Theproposednewfacilitybecauseofthecompetition raneanShippingCompanywillbetakingadvantageoffromportsinneighboringto build $1.8 billion con- thedeeper50-footLowerstates,likeTexasandAla-tainerterminalnamedtheMississippi River Ship Chan- bama.Andalsobecauseof LouisianaInternationalTer- nelandavoidingheightthe continuing shift in TEUs minal (LIT). Construction ofrestrictions from Mississippifrom the West Coast ports to theSt.BernardParishsiteRiver bridges further up thethe Gulf and Atlantic ports. In isexpectedtostartin2025river. The bridge in question2022 Port of NOLA handled and the first berth to open byistheCrescentCityCon- around 430,000 TEUs down 2028. Ports America and TILnection,whichdoesnthave12% from a big 2021, when have committed $800 millionenoughair-draftclearancecongestion was heavy on the in funding toward the project,toallowlargerboxshipstoWestCoastanddiversions with additional commitmentscall at the current NapoleonmovedTEUstoGulfand comingfromthePortofAvenuefacilities.Currently,Atlantic ports. The port reg-NOLA itself, as well as Statethe LIT project is in the two- ularlypostedover500,000 and Federal funding sources.to-three-yearfederalpermit- TEUs a year prior to COVID. Whenfullycompleted,LITting process. Andevennowwithatepid is designed to have an annualTheportslogicbehinddemand,theportsfigures capacity of 2 million TEUs.pushingforLITispartlystilllookgood.NOLA Aerial view of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, LA'