Louisiana delegation on trade mission to Panama
(www.katc.com) NEW ORLEANS -- A group of southern Louisiana elected officials and representatives of the region's ports and major airport leave Saturday to visit Panama in hope of opening new trade routes to Asia when the Panama Canal expansion is completed in 2014.
Although New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is leading the delegation on the four-day trip, it includes representatives from Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes, the Port of New Orleans and the New Orleans international airport, as well as members of the private sector.
"The ultimate goal is to expand services to our ports in Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes," Nagin said during a news conference Friday.
Much of the region's economic development effort, historically, has often pitted parish against parish. But St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro said a unified effort would be needed not only to beat competition from ports in Miami and Houston, but also Gulfport, Miss., and Mobile, Ala.
"This is the first time in many years we've come together as a region," Taffaro said.
The group will visit the privately owned Port of Balboa on the Pacific side of the canal and the Port of Manzanillo, which is near the Atlantic side of the canal, before meeting with the Maritime Authority of Panama and the Panama Canal Authority.
Sean Hunter, director of aviation at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, said the trip might help pave the way for Panama-based Copa Airlines to fly into New Orleans. The airport was once a major airline gateway to Central America and South America.
Nagin said the group also planned a regional effort to get the Legislature to fund port improvements in the three parishes. Earlier this year, the Port of New Orleans unveiled a $1 billion expansion plan _ part of which likely will be funded through private-public partnerships. One of the specific aims of the plan is to take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion.
The mayor already has been on trade trips to China and South Africa this year.
Nagin said Friday that the South Africa trip already has produced interest from that nation in having automobiles and trucks shipped there through the Port of New Orleans.
