Infrastructure improvements, a deepening river draft and inter-port collaborations are setting a new, and potentially transformational, course for the Port of Greater Baton Rouge.
The port has always been closely aligned with the U.S. agricultural market. Given its rail infrastructure and barge accessibility, it’s ideally suited as a destination for outbound shipments of grain, oil seeds, sugar, wood pellets and sometimes rice. The port’s grain elevator— maintained and operated by Louis Dreyfus Co.—is one of its largest tenants, moving between 5 and 6 million tons of exported grain and oil seed per year.
They’re continuing to expand and improve in that space, currently working with Dreyfus to begin accepting crushed soybean meal by rail and barge. “It will enable the rail delivery of about 1 million plus tons per year of the product,” says Jay Hardman, port executive director.
“That fits well with the elevator’s utilization cycle … we get a big surge of product during the harvest season for corn and soybeans, then we hit a lull. That’s just when the crushed soybeans (exported as animal feed) begin to move.”
