New Orleans’ maritime cargo leaps up 28% in 2014

Port of New Orleans enjoyed booms in box, breakbulk and project cargo.    Cargo tonnage at the Port of New Orleans reached 8.37 million tons, a 14-year high and a 28 percent increase from 2013, according to figures released Monday by the port authority. 
   Port officials said imported steel, project cargo and containers led the growth.
   The amount of imported iron and steel moved over the docks doubled to 3.54 million tons in 2014. The port set a record for containers of 490,426 TEUs and officials project container traffic will exceed 500,000 TEUs for the year.
   The port authority reported in early February that 2014 container numbers had grown 8.8 percent. Officials attributed the gains to the addition of new shipping services and a slight improvement in the U.S. economy. 
   The return of Chiquita Brands as a customer after 40-year hiatus helped boost New Orleans’ banana imports from 20,540 tons to 72,165 tons, even though Chiquita only began shipping to the port in mid-October. Chiquita relocated its shipping operations from the Port of Gulfport in Mississippi. It plans to ship 60,000 to 78,000 TEUs per year on Mediterranean Shipping Co. vessels through New Orleans, about half as exports, representing about a 15 percent increase in container volume. Port officials expect much greater volume this year with a full-year of operations by Chiquita.
   French carrier CMA CGM in February added New Orleans to its Victory Bridge Service that calls several European ports and two ports in Mexico. The carrier also operates a service from New Orleans to the Caribbean and South and Central America.
   Maersk Line resumed vessel service to New Orleans last month as part of its 2M vessel sharing agreement with MSC. For the past three years, Maersk has only offered service to New Orleans shippers through slot charter agreements with various carriers. The seven-vessel service hits Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
   In an effort to attract new container services, the port’s Board of Commissioners recently approved a new incentive dockage rate for a new service’s first 20 vessel calls.
   Project cargo is growing to support rapid building of new chemical plants throughout Louisiana. In January, Fracht USA/Germany, a global freight forwarder, and local stevedores completed one of the heaviest project cargo lifts in the Port of New Orleans’ history, successfully discharging a 718-ton, 164-foot-long absorption tower from ship-to-barge. The absorption tower, which was shipped from China, was moved to a major plant in Donaldsonville, La.
   Exports of frozen poultry at the port grew 5.5 percent to 331,523 tons despite mid-year agriculture restrictions imposed by Russia as tensions with the West over Ukraine increased.
   Total port-wide cargo, which includes midstream operations, export grain and private tonnage within the port’s three-county jurisdiction also rose 27.7 percent to 31 million tons.
   “New weekly services, such as CMA CGM’s Victory Bridge Service to Europe, the return of Maersk Line’s vessels, Chiquita cargo and our new Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal will position the port for future growth,” Port CEO Gary LaGrange said in a statement.