Lower Mississippi River could gain new container port

Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District and American Patriot Holdings, LLC want to build a container port and river vessel to move containers to and from ports on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.    Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District (PPHTD) and American Patriot Holdings, LLC (APH) announced plans this week to develop an intermodal container terminal on the lower Mississippi River that would handle containers moving to and from ports on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
   An APH subsidiary, American Patriot Container Transport, has also designed an innovative self-propelled vessel that it said would be able to move containers on the river system much more quickly than on conventional barge tows.
   APH and the port said they entered into an agreement “to jointly develop the logistics system for vessel operations comprised of both deep-water docking at the Pointe Céleste Container Terminal and multiple upriver terminals, initially planned for the Memphis and St. Louis areas.”
   The new container port would be located between mile 50 and 55 on the Mississippi River, about half as far upriver as the Port of New Orleans’ Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, which is located at mile 99.7.
   “We’re building a new, modern technology port from the ground up where berthing depths exceed 60 feet and with the capability to accommodate the larger post-Panamax vessels coming through the widened and deepened Panama Canal,” said Sandy Sanders, executive director of Plaquemines Port. “Containers imported to the Plaquemines Port would be transferred to APCT’s revolutionary vessels for delivery to their upriver port destination. Export containers will be efficiently delivered from upriver ports to the Plaquemines Port for export on ocean carriers.
   “Beneficial cargo owners and ocean carriers alike should look at the planned port as a solution to their logistic problems and the high intermodal costs that plague them today,” Sanders added. “Cargo flows through the most efficient economical route and our plans are to provide shorter dwell times, lowest cost, with fast and reliable routes.”
   The port district includes a recently announced $8.5 billion LNG re-liquefaction facility being developed by Venture Global.
   It said the container terminal it plans to build, along with a breakbulk terminal, would encompass about 1,000 acres. The facility would be designed to service the largest ocean carriers, capable of safely docking vessels up to 20,000 TEUs.
   The vessel that APH plans to build was designed in conjunction with naval architect Naviform Consulting & Research Ltd. (NAVIFORM).
   The self propelled vessel would only have a draft of 9 feet and have an “exoskeleton” that the company said would maximize container payload. Designs call for ships with a capacity ranging from 1,824 to 2,960 TEUs, and overall lengths from 592 feet to 952 feet.
   The company said a “patented bow design enables the vessels to travel at 13 miles per hour north and southbound with essentially no wake.”
   The propulsion system would consist of four azimuthing thrusters (Z-Drive) and two bow pumps, burning LNG.
   APCT expects upriver round trips from the Pointe Céleste Terminal will take seven days to Memphis and 11 days to St. Louis.
   The company pointed to agricultural products including refrigerated cargo, as well as dry commodities such as chemicals as potential sources of cargo.
   The management team of APCT includes, Joseph P. Gehegan, former chief executive officer of U.S. Shipping Corp.; Robert W. McCormack, former global vice-president of marine commercial and business development at ExxonMobil; and Salvatore Litrico, former CEO of United Maritime Group.
   The port district and APH said they are holding discussions with investors, beneficial cargo owners, ocean carriers and terminal operators to advance the project.