Posted on November 17, 2025
The leaders of the Port of New Orleans and one of its largest commercial partners on Friday underscored the growing urgency of advancing the port’s multi-billion-dollar container terminal and road project — a development they say is central to the region’s industrial future.
Speaking at the port’s annual “State of the Port” gathering at the Sheraton Hotel, Port Commission Chair Michael Thomas, Port NOLA CEO Beth Ann Branch, and Ports America CEO Matthew Leech each stressed that the Louisiana International Terminal, planned for Violet in St. Bernard Parish, cannot move forward until a long-overdue federal permit is issued.
Branch said she remains hopeful the project can still break ground this year, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given no timeline for releasing its findings. “We’re working very closely with the Corps and we have regular check-ins,” she said, noting that the port has already spent three and a half years and funded more than 40 studies on the terminal’s environmental, economic, traffic and community impacts. “But we can’t do anything until we have a permit.”
The project is still undergoing the federal environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Corps is reviewing public comments from a recent hearings to determine next steps, which will include deciding whether to issue an Environmental Impact Statement or a Finding of No Significant Impact. If it is the former then it would cause further delays, if the latter then construction could begin.
Rendering of the proposed $1.8 billion container terminal at Violet, St. Bernard Parish. Courtesy Port of New Orleans
The Corps declined to comment on the expected timeline for its findings.
Losing ground
Friday’s gathering was focused on the terminal effort and the port did not provide any detailed assessment of how 2025 has gone in terms of shipping volumes, cruise passengers, revenues or other operational metrics. Branch said only that it has been a “challenging” year, citing the Trump administration’s tariff policies and other disruptions to international trade that have weighed on global shipping.
Port NOLA has lost ground on the all-important container shipping market to rival Gulf ports over the last decade, especially the Port of Mobile, which has grown from negligible container volume to surpass Port NOLA. As containers continue to account for a growing share of world shipping, the relative decline of New Orleans has alarmed port and shipping executives.
Another unresolved issue is the project’s evolving price tag. Branch acknowledged that costs for the Violet terminal have risen considerably since the port first purchased land more than four years ago.
Earlier this year, some opponents of the project — including Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser — claimed they had information suggesting the estimated cost had climbed from $1.8 billion to as high as $3.9 billion. Branch said the port and its partners are nearly finished with a full reassessment of projected costs and negotiations with private operators, but they have not yet reached a new official estimate.
Thomas and Leech reiterated that the project is not simply a new terminal but an economic development engine expected to shape the region for decades. Backers — including Gov. Jeff Landry, who has appointed GNO Inc. CEO Michael Hecht as his liaison to help shepherd the effort — say the terminal and its companion road project will attract investment from distribution centers, cold-storage operators, manufacturing facilities and other logistics-driven businesses seeking access to global shipping lanes.
A key component of the broader plan is a new road connection designed to funnel truck traffic from the Violet site to regional interstates while bypassing residential neighborhoods. The preferred alignment under evaluation would run a dedicated corridor inland to connect directly with major highway infrastructure. Supporters say the route is essential for handling the volumes expected at the terminal and for preventing heavy-truck congestion on parish roads.
But while port officials describe the effort as “transformative” for south Louisiana, it has sparked significant opposition in St. Bernard Parish, where businessman Sidney Torres III has emerged as one of the project’s most outspoken critics. Torres and parish officials argue the terminal would increase diesel truck traffic, worsen local air quality and disrupt nearby wetlands. They have also raised concerns about the parish’s authority over its waterways and infrastructure.
A rendering of possible new road and rail links through the Central Wetlands system lakeside of Meraux in St. Bernard Parish, which are deemed necessary to alleviate congestion and accommodate thousands of trucks daily coming from the Port of New Orleans’ proposed Mississippi River container terminal at Violet. Courtesy of the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission
Earlier this year, the parish filed suit seeking to nullify a land sale to the port and to assert jurisdiction over roads and riverfront property adjacent to the terminal site. Local officials have also criticized the proposed road corridor, warning that any routing through or near residential areas would burden neighborhoods already wary of industrial expansion. Residents at public meetings have expressed fears that the terminal will bring more noise, pollution and traffic than the parish can absorb.
The port maintains that the dozens of studies it has commissioned already address many of those concerns. Studies examining environmental impacts, truck routing, noise and wetlands mitigation were all funded as part of the port’s multi-year planning effort. Branch emphasized Friday that these studies were conducted to supply federal regulators with the data needed for a comprehensive review. But without a permit decision from the Corps, she said, the work remains in limbo.
Wider economic impact
For Leech, whose company, Ports America, is the nation’s largest terminal operator and a major partner in the project, the economic implications go beyond local concerns. One of Port NOLA’s longstanding challenges is the imbalance between exports and imports. The port exports far more than it imports, which forces carriers to bring in partially empty ships — a costly inefficiency that can make New Orleans less attractive in carrier scheduling. Leech told attendees that the St. Bernard terminal would help correct that imbalance by drawing more inbound cargo and diversifying carrier options.
Supporters of the project say that without a new terminal capable of handling larger ships and higher volumes, New Orleans risks falling further behind competing Gulf Coast ports. They argue that the terminal, combined with the new road connection, is necessary to ensure the region can handle future growth in global trade and attract the kinds of industrial tenants who rely on consistent container service.
Still, the fate of the Louisiana International Terminal now rests with the Corps of Engineers — and on a timeline over which neither the port nor its partners have control. Until the permit arrives, Branch said, the state’s most ambitious port project in generations remains stuck at the starting line.
