The Port of New Orleans announced Tuesday that a record 43 container vessels arrived in the Port during the month of September, at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. The figure set an all-time record for the number of container ships arriving at the Port within a given month.
"The better news is October is expected to break last month's mark," said Port President and CEO Gary LaGrange. "Our terminal operators and Port staff have worked closely with the shipping lines to build services and new cargo opportunities in New Orleans. Together with upticks in the national and global economies, we hope to see this trend continue."
In September, the Port welcomed 17 MSC vessels, 11 Hapag-Lloyd vessels, eight Seaboard vessels, five Maersk vessels, one CSAVvessel and one CMA-CGM vessel.
Hapag-Lloyd added a new vessel to its Mediterranean service into New Orleans in September. The new vessel bolsters an already bustling container business at the Port. Through the first six months of 2010 the Port realized a 60 percent increase in TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units) compared to the same period one year ago. At this pace, the Port's TEU total could top 400,000 at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in 2010. And Port officials are working diligently to expand capacity and services at Napoleon. Two additional 65-long-ton container gantry cranes should be delivered in 2011 at an estimated cost of $26.5 million.