Make stuff for the boats to carry and more boats will come

The Advocate feature story today is about plans for the continued development of the Port Of New Orleans particularly with an eye toward capturing a greater share of the expected increase in container traffic coming through an expanded Panama Canal in 2015.

New Orleans has certain competitive advantages over other Gulf ports, but not as many as you might think. And, in one crucial area, the city continues to lag.

Norman Romagosa, of Metairie-based Diversified Foods, said the canal expansion does indeed promise to put more container traffic up for grabs, though he noted Houston is “light years” ahead of other ports in terms of readiness.

He said New Orleans has done an admirable job of bolstering its container operations, though he noted all the Gulf ports have.

Romagosa, who spent 27 years in the shipping business before entering the import/export business eight years ago, said the key is building up the manufacturing base in the city and across the region.

“If the freight is on the dock, the ship is coming to get it,” he said. “That’s what I’ve always preached.”

While there is some manufacturing in and around New Orleans, “we need much more of it.”

“That’s something the port has never had much success getting … support from the state or the city,” he said. “It’s almost like sometimes they’re working in different directions. But that’s what we need: The actual industry that is going to produce the freight for export or consume the freight for import.

“In terms of industry, we’ve got a long way to go compared to Houston and even Mobile,” noting the latter has automobile manufacturing plants and the Airbus jetliner assembly line. “That’s the kind of thing Louisiana has always been lacking in.”

I guess we could try setting some of our "unique culture" or a filming location or maybe somebody's dissertation on capturing New Orleans' unique culture on film out on the docks but I doubt the boats would come to pick any of that up.