Port of New Orleans

Port of New Orleans
Container ship is unloaded at the Napoleon Avenue terminal
Details
Draft depth	45 feet
Air draft	170 feet, restricted by Crescent City Connection bridge
Website http://www.portno.com/

The Port of New Orleans is a port located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the sixth-largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled and 13th-largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo. It also has the longest wharf in the world, which is 2.01 miles (3.4 km) long and can accommodate 15 vessels at one time.

The Port of New Orleans handles about 62 million short tons of cargo a year. The port also handles about 50,000 barges and 1,000,000 cruise passengers per year, with several cruise ships from Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines, making it one of the nation's premier cruise ports. The Port of South Louisiana, based in the New Orleans suburb of LaPlace handles 193 million short tons. The Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana combined form one of the largest port systems in the world by bulk tonnage and among the top ten in the world by annual volume handled.

In 1946 a foreign trade zone was established in the port.

The Port of New Orleans is the center of the Lower Mississippi River port complex in Louisiana. Connected to America's heartland by the great 23,300 kilometer inland waterway of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, the Port of New Orleans is the port of choice for a wide range of cargoes that include rubber, coffee, steel, containers, and manufactured goods. Some 6,000 vessels and 500 million tons of cargo travel up and down the Mississippi River each year, including over half of the country's grain exports. With this extremely high rate of traffic, the Port of New Orleans is seen as the center point of American waterway trade.

The Port of New Orleans is the United States' only deep-water port served by six major railroads, which is more than any other port in the country, that give it cost-effective rail service to destinations throughout the country. These six railroads are linked by the New Orleans Public Belt, a 25 mile long railroad. The productive private maritime industry in the Port of New Orleans helps it produce year after year and giving it the United States' largest market share for imported steel, plywood, coffee, and natural rubber.