When the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is doing well, that means a lot of area businesses also are doing well, says Karen St. Cyr, who directs public affairs for the port. And as Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, if St. Cyr is right, then 2014 was a good year for the Capital Region—and 2015 and beyond could be even better.
Last year, about $7.5 billion worth of goods were exported from the Baton Rouge region, up from about $6.2 billion in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. That’s a 20.2% increase, ranking Baton Rouge No. 42 among the largest export markets in the nation. Increased activity at the port bears out those numbers, St. Cyr says.
Chemicals make up more than half of the area’s exports, so it’s fair to say that the relatively flush times for that industry contributed to last year’s export increase. Big expansions by companies like Dow, BASF, and Shintech likely are adding to exports from the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, says local economist Loren Scott.
But Scott, port officials and other observers point to what they say is really driving the increase: grain. In the fall of 2013, Louis Dreyfus Commodities cut the ribbon on a $150 million renovation and expansion of a grain and oilseed elevator at the port. Not coincidentally, grain exported from the port increased from 577,600 tons in 2013 to 4.1 million tons in 2014, according to port officials.
As a result, cargo worked at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge’s public docks in 2014 more than doubled compared to 2013, from 4.2 million tons to 9.2 million tons. St. Cyr says general cargo numbers typically only represent 10% to 15% of port activity, and don’t include what happens at private docks owned by companies like ExxonMobil and BASF.
“Exports play a significant role in Louisiana’s overall economy, and that impact is intensified in port cities, such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans,” says Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Steven Grissom. New Orleans also showed an increase in the Department of Commerce numbers, adding $4.9 billion, or 16.2%, to its 2013 total.
It’s possible that the federal government’s numbers actually underplay the impact. The Brookings Institution values exports from the Baton Rouge metro area at $18.3 billion, more than double the total reported by the Department of Commerce. However, the Brookings study differs from most export databases, in that it measures both goods and services, and it derives its estimates by production location rather than shipping location.
But regardless of which set of numbers you use, the trend line is sloping up. Overall, Louisiana has continued to break records, growing exports to $63.24 billion in 2013 and $64.81 billion in 2014, Grissom says, citing numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division.
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