The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted the federal permit authorizing construction of the Louisiana International Terminal in St. Bernard Parish. Port NOLA describes it as the only new greenfield container port currently under development in the United States.
Planned on the Lower Mississippi River with direct Gulf access, the terminal is designed to handle vessels above 16,000 TEU that cannot pass beneath the Crescent City Connection. The project is being developed by Port NOLA, Terminal Investment Limited—the terminal operating arm of MSC—and Ports America.
For shippers, the permit is an important capacity signal rather than an immediate routing change. Construction timing, carrier commitments, rail and highway integration, and real operating windows will determine when the new gateway becomes useful. Meridian will be watching those milestones against Gulf Coast service patterns and bookable capacity.