GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Louisiana International Terminal Drops Anchor with Federal Permit ⚓
- Port NOLA, led by President and CEO Beth Branch and Chairman Mike Thomas, holds responsibility for designing and building the facility
- Terminal Investment Limited, the terminal-operating arm of MSC, and Ports America, the country’s largest terminal operator, will manage operations once complete
- Louisiana’s bipartisan congressional delegation and the State of Louisiana backed the project through federal review
- Mayor Helena Moreno’s new Port and Logistics Corridor, built around the I-510 connection to LIT, positions New Orleans East to capture spinoff investment
- In Violet, the community that will host LIT, the Violet Action Committee has supported the project’s significant economic potential for the surrounding community
The economic impact of the facility for St. Bernard Parish, per GNO, Inc.’s analysis of three independent methodologies (LSU/Lewis Terrell & Associates, RAL Forensics, and IMPLAN modeling), is game-changing:
- $33.3 million in new annual tax revenue for St. Bernard Parish at full buildout, a 58% increase over the parish’s entire current tax base of $57.1 million – close to $100,000 a day
- Over 4,300 new jobs, a 37% increase over the parish’s current workforce of 11,868
- At full buildout in the 2040s, that revenue funds the parish’s core services directly: $5.1 million a year to law enforcement, $5.1 million to schools, $2.5 million to fire protection, and nearly $1 million to drainage and levees
In 2025, Governor Jeff Landry appointed me and GNO, Inc. to shepherd LIT and its related toll road access corridor to completion, building on the same interagency role we played ahead of Super Bowl LIX. LIT has been a top priority for GNO, Inc. for many years.
With the permit in hand, dirt is expected to turn as early as this fall.
And, In Memoriam
New Orleans lost a historic leader this week. Jerome “Big Duck” Smith, a civil rights activist who marched, sat in, and rode with the Freedom Riders, died Friday in his Mid-City home at 87. Smith co-founded Tamborine & Fan in 1968 with Rudy Lombard, an organization built to teach New Orleans children their culture and history through music and tradition. U.S. Rep. Troy Carter remembered Smith as “a freedom fighter, a mentor and a servant of this community.” Smith was known as “Big Duck” because children followed him like ducklings.
You can read more about Smith’s remarkable life here.
