Posted on November 14, 2017
A new study shows just how important it is for the Calcasieu Ship Channel to be dredged to its congressionally authorized depth and width.
Officials with the Baton Rouge-based firm CSRS said the ship channel could bring 10,000 new employees to the Lake Area by 2023, along with another $4.9 billion in annual local revenue and $100 million more in annual local tax revenue.
But Jeff Bell, project manager for CSRS, said the channel needs to be dredged properly for these economic benefits to be fully realized. Some obstacles stand in the way of that happening, mainly securing the state funding needed to secure sites to dispose of dredged material.
The ship channel is directly tied to $110 billion of global investment, with $40 billion happening in the last two years, according to the study. Up to 46 percent of the gross domestic product in the Lake Charles metro area depends on the channel being properly dredged.
As of last year, nearly 30 percent of the employees in the Lake Charles metro area are tied to industries that depend on the ship channel. The channel also generates another $5.7 billion in annual local economic revenue and $118 million in annual sales and property tax revenue.
It’s not just Southwest Louisiana that benefits from the ship channel. It accounts for roughly 50,000 jobs statewide, with 25 percent being outside the Lake Charles metro area. It generates $6.7 billion in annual statewide revenue, and channel-dependent companies generate just over $102.2 million in annual taxes statewide.
Bill Rase, Port of Lake Charles director, said port officials have to visit Washington, D.C., and Baton Rouge every year to ask for funding related to maintaining the ship channel. He referred to it as the “begging for bucks tour.”
Rase said restricting the ship channel’s draft could hurt the economic feasibility of companies already here and may drive away companies considering a move to the area.
The study clearly shows how the ship channel impacts the economy on the local, state and national levels. State and federal officials should read it and take the steps needed to keep it maintained.
Source: American Press
