The successful base bid of USD1,590,233.60 was the lowest among seven bids received by the port during its competitive public bid process. Construction is expected to start by January 2020 with an estimated completion date of August 2020. “The West Cal Port Board of Commissioners was encouraged to have received such a large number of bid packets for the project,” said Dick Kennison, Board President for the West Calcasieu Port. “The commissioners were equally impressed with the quality of the contractors that were interested in the port’s project and spent a considerable amount of time reviewing all of the data and information included in the packets.” Lynn Hohensee, WCP Director, noted that the public facility will work closely with local, state and federal officials to make sure that all construction activity associated with the project is in line with regulatory guidelines and that an aggressive time schedule is followed for the new road work. As the number of tenants at the West Calcasieu Port has expanded over the past few years, it became apparent that the port’s neighbouring residential community and its quality of life was not conducive to the growing heavy industrial road traffic that accompanied the increased activity at the port,” he said. “For that reason and the convenience of our tenants, the port’s board of commissioners commissioned the construction of a new roadway that would enter the port off Goss Road before entering the residential area,” Hohensee continued. He explained that the port’s board of commissioners led the way in securing the necessary state funding support for the roadway construction. Significant funding support will come from a USD878,382 portion of a USD1,200,618 Port Priority Fund grant awarded to the port by the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development for dredging of the port’s barge basin and construction of the entrance road. “The Port Priority Fund grant is restricted to 90 percent of the construction costs related to the road construction project,” Hohensee said. “The port is using internal funding to cover the costs associated with the balance of the construction costs as well as the engineering and permitting costs associated with the project.” Located 12 miles south of Interstate 10 and just west of Highway 27, the WCP has 2,500 feet of waterfront property on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Current tenant activity includes barge-fleeting operations, marine construction, wet barge cleaning/stripping, dry cargo barge cleaning and concrete pumping.

The growth comes despite flat volumes in October, where cargo was down just more than 1 percent – 3,562 TEUs – when compared with October 2018. Still, the port in 2019 is on course to it fifth record-setting year for cargo growth, said John Reinhart, the CEO and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority. “We continue to see the impact of the tariffs on some of our agricultural exports that would normally be heading to China and this will continue until both sides reach a compromise on that issue,” Reinhart said. “Additionally, export markets are feeling the effect of the strong dollar. The increased cost overseas of American-made goods creates a challenge for exporters. We see these as short-term issues, while our focus remains to provide our customers with best-in-class service. We are still processing significant amounts of cargo in less time than ever before. Our turn-times for motor carriers, dwell-time for rail cargo, and productivity at the berth are all trending in the right direction.” On a calendar year-to-date basis (Jan – Oct) overall TEU volume is up 4.7 percent; rail, up .9 percent; Virginia Inland Port, down 10 percent; barge moves, up 17 percent; Richmond Marine Terminal volume, up 17 percent; and truck moves, up 4.4 percent. Breakbulk tonnage and vehicle units were down 14 and 17 percent, respectively. “We are making significant progress on our overall expansion plan,” Reinhart said. “Last week, we announced the start of construction to dredge the Norfolk Harbour and commercial channels to 55 feet and widen them in selected areas. This project holds long-term benefits for Virginia, for the port, for cargo owners, our customers and the ocean carriers. Safe, two-way movement of ultra-large container vessels, unrestricted by tide, is a significant competitive advantage for our port. This project and all other improvements we are making at the terminals tells the ocean carriers ‘we are ready for your big ships.” The capacity expansion project at NIT continues its progress according to schedule. There are 18 new stacks served by 36 new RMGs already in service. Work on the next phase of stack-yard construction is underway with the next group of RMGs scheduled for delivery in January 2020. When the project is complete, the terminal’s annual container capacity will have been expanded by 400,000 units, or 46 percent.