New Orleans CityBusiness, September 23, 2011
The Port of New Orleans has entered into a 15-year lease agreement with Transportation Consultants Inc. for a lease at the Governor Nicholls Street Wharf. The new deal will lead to a $20.5 million investment from the locally based shipping logistics company to expand along the Industrial Canal.
TCI has already built a new headquarters and packaging facility on France Road Parkway. Founder and CEO Jack Jensen said the agreement with the port is the culmination of a plan started four years ago to expand the value-added industry along the Industrial Canal. Its initial investment will have created 60 jobs by the end of the year, Jensen said, and the planned expansion will add 20 more positions for freight-forwarders, stevedores, rail operators and vessel crews.
The TCI expansion is also expected to triple the volume of 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled along the Industrial Canal. According to a release from the company, the container count along the canal is expected to increase more than 30,000 by 2013 once France Road Parkway Properties builds a 150,000-square-foot warehouse that TCI plans to lease.
In addition to the new warehouse, Jensen said TCI plans to lease and develop the Governor Nicholls Wharf as an overflow export facility to handle resin packaging, expand an imported granite distribution facility and explore additional port property on Alvar Street.