Director: Port stayed active in 2014

The Port of Morgan City saw lots of activity this year with several new tenants doing business at the port and the start of construction on a new emergency operations center, Port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.
The Oslo Bulk 9, a 360-feet long ship being leased by PMI Nutrition International, traveled to the port 14 times since August, Wade said. The ship imported sea salt from Las Coloradas, Mexico. PMI Nutrition International is part of Purina Mills, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Land O’ Lakes.
The company exported rice to Haiti, grain to three different locations in Mexico, Wade said. In 2015, Wade expects the ship to begin exporting more goods. A 15-person, all-Russian crew operates the ship, he said.
Company officials are hoping to be able to load 4,000 tons to 5,000 tons of product on the ship to be exported, Wade said. The ship previously went in the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel with 17-foot draft. However, now that the channel has been dredged to 20 feet, the crew plans to eventually go out with an 18-foot to 19-foot draft, he said.
“The more they go out with, the more money they make, the happier they are,” he said. “It helps keep the channel conditioned.”
Dredging work in the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel began in September and was scheduled to conclude at the end of 2014, Wade said.
By January 2015, PMI Nutrition International will be exporting on a regular basis, Wade said. Port officials have taken over the role as operator of the port because no companies have shown interest in serving that role, he said.
The year has been very good for the port, Wade said. “We’re going to be in the import-export business, which is really good,” he said. “The oil field kind of goes up and down from time to time. This is all new business … for the area so I think that can be very good business for the community.”
Turnover for unloading and loading of the ship has greatly increased since the first voyage in August, Wade said. “We’ve cut it from 80 hours down to about 12 (hours),” he said.
The first phase of work to prepare the site of the Port of Morgan City’s $11 million Government Emergency Operations Center was finished during the year. The contractor to construct the center was awarded and work began at the end of the year, Wade said. The site is located on La. 182 in Morgan City adjacent to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
In October, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially made the Crew Boat Cut in the Atchafalaya River the new authorized channel for vessels to travel through. The dredging and placement of rocks along the cut were designed to create a self-scouring channel. The Horseshoe Bend was the previously authorized channel but will no longer be used.
Two Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems are being installed in the bar channel. The systems were paid for by a 2011 port security grant and will let people access real-time weather readings including tides, currents and water salinity and temperature on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website.
All the equipment is being used is NOAA’s, but the port is the sponsor for the project, Wade said. The first system was installed earlier in December, and the second one will be installed in January 2015, Wade said.
The port will be responsible for maintenance of the systems, he said. “It’s going to be some very valuable information for us,” Wade said.
During the year, the Port of Morgan City purchased a 32-foot port security vessel. “That will be used to go service these NOAA stations and for surveying and for port security,” Wade said. The port is also building a new boat shed for that vessel, he said.
In December, four 300,000-pound boilers for the new Louisiana Energy and Power Authority natural gas-fueled plant came to the port by jumbo rail car and were then brought by remote control-operated carriage to the plant site on Youngs Road. “That’s by far the biggest lift that the port’s ever made,” Wade said.
At the end of 2013, the Port of Morgan City had no tenants leasing property at the port, Wade said. Now, Baker-Hughes, Haliburton, Robins & Morton and Purina Mills are all leasing property at the port, he said. Robins & Morton is the contractor of the new LEPA plant. Railroad business was also vibrant at the port in 2014 with an average of 15 to 20 rail cars coming in each month, he said.