Posted on March 7, 2019
The Greater Lafourche Port Commission has completed a $12 million slip expansion project at Port Fourchon.
“This project from start to finish demonstrates further our commissioner’s commitment to providing our customers in the Deepwater Offshore Energy Production sector with additional resources in the realm of potential future tenants who are already eyeing available lease space this project affords them,” Port Director Chett Chiasson said.
Port Fourchon serves 90 percent of offshore, deepwater oil and gas operations.
The project was partially paid for by a $9.2 million grant from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Developments Port Priority Program, and $850,000 from the Port Commission.
Eligible projects under the state’s Port Priority Program receive 90 percent of a project’s construction costs.
Designed by Picciola and Associates, the port added over 1,670 feet of bulkhead at Slip C, adding one-third of a mile of waterfront property for new tenants.
Magnolia Dredge and Dock dredged the slip, and Crosby Dredging was hired for construction of the bulkhead, port officials said.
Slips C and D are the latest expansion project undertaken by the Port Commission. In its entirety, Slip C will add 15,000 feet of bulkhead and 400 acres of leasable property, according to the Port Commission’s website.
The latest project, Slip D, is still under construction. It will be wider and longer than the existing slips, adding new access for offshore vessels.
The Slip D project is estimated to cost $100 million and is also being engineered by Picciola and Associates.
The port is continuing expansion projects in anticipation of new projects from locally operating companies such as Shell, Chevron and BP, Chaisson said.
“When your tenants provide services and support to more than 90 percent of deepwater offshore energy production out there, the need for more areas for expansion never ceases,” Chiasson said. “We are also blessed to have tenants that excel at what they do and continue to make a good name for themselves because of the superior services they provide.”
The port recently received a 90-year, 900-acre lease on Fourchon Island for further expansion.
The new development is expected to generate $250 million of investments in deepwater rig repair facilities, which could attract another $90 million in business annually.
Source: dailycomet.com
