Rice bound for Haiti moves through Morgan City
BY ZACHARY FITZGERALD
Above, Planters Rice Mill employees work Thursday morning to load rice from
a truck onto a barge at the Port of Morgan City’s dock. They used an electrically
powered conveyer belt to transfer the rice. About 3,500 tons will be loaded
into two barges at the port, where it will stay until a ship arrives to take it to Haiti.
Below, Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade holds a handful
that fell onto the ground this morning when workers transferred rice from a truck
to a barge. Any rice that falls off the conveyer belt is disposed of, Wade said.
Port stays active, officials say
BY ZACHARY FITZGERALD
The Port of Morgan City’s Government $11 million Emergency andThroughout the past year, lots of activity has been going on at and around the Port of Morgan City with the beginning of construction on the port’s new Government Emergency and Operations Center and import-export ships making routine visits to the port. The Government Emergency and Operations Center project went through geotechnical work, test piles being driven, land being cleared and the concrete slabs being poured for both floors of the building in a year’s time, Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said. The center will be located on La. 182 adjacent to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. Port officials will move into the building by the end of September, Wade said. Port officials secured $7.1 million in state capital outlay funding with state the help of state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin; state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin; and state Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Gray. The Port of Morgan City also put $3.9 million of its own funds to build the center. The building will be able to withstand a Category 5 Hurricane and has a backup generator, Wade said.
Port exports continue to grow
from the Port of Morgan City for the first time. Trucks transported about 150 truckloads
of rice to the port in order to export 3,000 tons of rice by ship to Haiti.
Below, rice is shown as it is transferred from a truck to a barge.
BY ZACHARY FITZGERALD
In the past eight months, import-export business has become a fairly common site at the Port of Morgan City with ships making stops at the port 18 times, and that business is continuing with about 4,000 tons of rice set to be exported to Haiti within the next couple of weeks. On Monday, barges arrived at the Port of Morgan City in anticipation of a rice ship coming to the port, Port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said. The ship will export roughly 4,000 tons of rice for Planters Rice Mill in Abbeville. In November 2014, Planters Rice exported 3,000 tons of rice from the port, the first time Planters used the Port of Morgan City for export. Import-export ships have made a total of 18 trips to the port since August 2014.
Ports’ impact keeps growing
having an increasing economic impact on their communities.
Legislators push to get money for maintenance
Port’s import-export business grows
Import-export business at the Port of Morgan City is on the rise and has steadily increased since the first ship of that kind came to the port in August 2014, port officials say. Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said getting into the import-export business within the past year “has put us on the map.” The port has been “very busy” and the “phones are ringing off the hook,” Wade said. The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District commission held its monthly meeting Monday. Import-export business started coming to the port when the Oslo Bulk 9, a 360-foot-long ship being leased by PMI Nutrition International, began importing sea salt and exporting grain from the Port of Morgan City in August 2014. The ship traveled to Mexico and Haiti. PMI Nutrition International is owned by Land O’ Lakes. That business has drawn the interest of other import-export companies. Wade expects a ship operated by Planters Rice of Abbeville, possibly up to 480 feet long, to come into the port within the next 10 days, he said. The company has already exported rice from the port with a 350-foot ship. Import-export ships made a total of 18 trips to the port since August 14, Wade said.
