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30 MN May 2011 Image cour tesy LIGTT An artist's renderings of a containerzed cargo transit terminal. America,” Crowe said. Work on the canal should be com- pleted by late 2014 or, more likely, early 2015, he said. Under the plan, ”the port will be built on an artificial island from aggregate materials readily available near the site,” Crowe said. “It will be solidified by wall-pilings that will protect it from wave action and potential storm surges.” One idea under consideration is to use river sedi- ment currently dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and deposited on the west side of Southwest Pass. To build the terminal, the Corps would have to make arrangements to dump sediment on the east side of the pass. The terminal could start with a 50- or 100-acre tract on a site of 256 acres, owned by the state of Louisiana, Crowe said. Adjoining land could be added to expand the port as needed at little cost per acre, he said. “Most of the construction costs will be for containment walls, expected to be nearly 40 feet above the sea level,” Crowe said. The terminal's initial construction costs are projected at between $500,000 and $1.5 billion. “The port board will be the licensor, and potential licensees are Maersk, Hutchison, Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, Target or other big retailers,” Crowe said. Maersk is the world’s largest container shipping company, and Hutchison is an international port investor, developer and operator. Crowe said the proposed terminal site is in per- manently deep water of 70 to 80 feet, able to accommo- date future, ocean-going vessels — even the newest ships recently ordered by Maersk, carrying 18,000 containers. Crowe said “we've already assigned a committee to begin seeking all the permits required at the local, state and fed- eral levels. We've had two meetings with Maersk about the terminal and have met with top logistics executives at Walmart headquarters. Chinese companies, along with port authorities in Shanghai and Yangtze, are interested and have called to set up meetings.” Crowe said tenants can have their sites custom designed and built.
