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Louisiana Ports Sign Cooperate Agreement

[ October 4, 2024   //   ]

To improve efficiency and competition, Upper and Lower Mississippi River ports have signed their first Cooperation Endeavor Agreement at the National Waterways Conference’s annual meeting in September.
This historic partnership could lead to significant advancements in cooperation efforts toward business development, infrastructure investment, and federal support for port operations along America’s Marine Highways 35 and 55.
The signatories, convened by Corn Belt Ports, include Plaquemines Port, Harbor and Terminal District, Port of Greater Baton Rouge, Port of New Orleans, Port of South Louisiana, and St. Bernard Port, Harbor and Terminal District.
Key goals of the agreement include:
• Expand global markets for U.S. agricultural products. Ports will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address supply chain bottlenecks and enhance the flow of agricultural exports from the Midwest to global markets through Louisiana’s coastal ports. The group will also convene an annual agricultural business development event in New Orleans.
• Support federal port and waterways infrastructure investment, navigation channel maintenance, and dredging funding priorities. The ports will take a unified approach to government relations in natural and man-made infrastructure and construction, operations and maintenance. Coalitions are more powerful than the simple sum of their parts, and multifront government relations are more effective than individual, disjointed efforts.
• Support U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reforms. Recognizing the essential role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in maintaining inland waterways, the ports will actively support ongoing reform initiatives aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of water resources infrastructure development.
• Support U.S. Maritime Administration Marine Highway Programs. The CEA will bolster efforts to create and strengthen federal programs that meet the needs of ports along Marine Highways 35 and 55, ensuring these critical trade routes remain viable and competitive.
This CEA marks a significant step forward in the unified effort to advance the economic and operational capabilities of ports on the Upper and Lower Mississippi River, according to a release from the ports.

Barges float in the Mississippi River as a portion of the riverbed is exposed

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