The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) recognizes its fifth annual Maritime Month May 1-31 and National Maritime Day on May 22 to pay tribute to the region’s rich maritime history and to honor the hardworking men and women of the local maritime workforce.

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) and the St. Tammany Corporation today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together to grow trade, as well as to support existing and new business relationships for the benefit of the region and state of Louisiana.

Today, applications open for the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) Clean Truck Replacement Incentive Program (Clean TRIP), which gives drayage truck and fleet owners who serve Port NOLA an opportunity to voluntarily replace older, inefficient drayage trucks with cleaner models. This is the third round of funding since the program began in 2016.

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards, Port of New Orleans President and CEO Brandy D. Christian, and Lineage Logistics President and CEO Greg Lehmkuhl announced the company will build a $42 million expansion of its Jourdan Road cold-storage facility in New Orleans East, where Lineage plans to create 50 new direct jobs.

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) Procurement team is hosting a virtual Procurement Roundtable on March 31 at 2 p.m. in recognition of March’s designation as National Procurement Month and to create awareness of and access to opportunities for businesses to work with the Port. The free online session is designed to educate potential and update current vendors about how to best engage with the Port and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) as well as share information about upcoming projects and bid opportunities.

The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans selected new officers with the election of William H. Langenstein, III as Chairman, Charles H. Ponstein as Vice Chairman and Jack C. Jensen, Jr. as Secretary-Treasurer during the March 25 monthly Board meeting.

Today, the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) welcomed Todd Rives to the executive team as Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Rives’ maritime strategic business development and leadership experience, which includes 15 years with ocean carrier CMA CGM, will help Port NOLA fully realize current and future growth opportunities.

Railway Age Magazine recently named Tomeka Watson Bryant, Marketing and Sales Manager for the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Commission (NOPB), to its prestigious Fast Trackers "20 Under 40" list.

The New Orleans Public Railroad (NOPB) had zero reportable injuries and zero reportable human factor derailments in over 365 days. This is the first time reaching this milestone for NOPB and a significant accomplishment in the railroad industry, which holds itself to stringent safety standards.

THE Alliance has announced a new direct-Asia container service that will call the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA), the East Coast Loop 6 (EC6) service via the Panama Canal. Members of THE Alliance Ocean Network Express (ONE), Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Yang Ming Line stated they are launching the EC6, calling it “the first service within THE Alliance network to directly and seamlessly connect the U.S. Gulf with important ports in Asia.” This new service will launch in April 2021.

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) is set to begin the due diligence process for a potential $1.5 billion multimodal container terminal to serve the largest container vessels calling in the Gulf of Mexico. Following unanimous approval at today’s Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Port NOLA intends to acquire property in St. Bernard Parish and begin a two-year due diligence and permitting period that will include robust community engagement.

Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) President and CEO and CEO of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) Brandy D. Christian received the 2020 C. Alvin Bertel Award at the annual World Trade Center award ceremony and luncheon held this afternoon.