US$1bn terminal evolves

Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District (PPHTD) has secured land and rail deals through its private partners. LA23 Development Company (Devco) has secured the site for the proposed multimodal container terminal, located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Sustainability Partners (SP) will design the rail logistics for the site.

In May, it was announced that APM Terminals is being considered as the future operator of the terminal.

Chris Fetters, CEO of LA23 Devco, the port’s exclusive private development partner, said: “This is an exciting first step towards the project. Rail is a vital component to the success of the terminal and we are looking forward to the partnership with Sustainability Partners.”

1,000 acres of land

The container terminal site encompasses approximately 1,000 acres of land and 8,200 feet of Mississippi River frontage. The proposed facility, powered by LNG and electricity, will provide access to the next generation vessels with a capacity of up to 22,000 TEUs.

The proposed terminal will also transition truck traffic off the roads and move containers via marine highways to inland Midwest ports within the Mississippi River Basin, exclusively by the American Patriot Holdings’ (APH) self-propelled vessels.

The APH “liner” vessel is capable of 2,375 TEU capacity on the lower Mississippi River. The hybrid vessel is designed for transiting through the upper Mississippi River and tributary system with a payload of 1,800 TEU capacity.

Rail plan

In July, the Plaquemines Port Governing Authority approved the “notice to proceed” agreement with SP to begin connecting rail to the port campus. The US$50m project will be a public-private partnership between the port and SP to extend rail access ten miles, to multiple port terminal operators along the Mississippi River corridor. This new extension will connect the proposed terminal to the Class I railroad network including Union Pacific and BNSF, also situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

Planning, engineering, and permitting for the rail extension is expected to take 12 to 18 months. Construction is estimated to take between six and nine months upon approval of the permit.

The port is currently in a 120-day due diligence period with APM Terminals to determine market and financial impacts.