While scanning the North American continent for ports and terminals which deal heavily in bulk trade and handling, what arises is a mix of players - those that continue to be strong and those finding ways to survive.
Big bulk in South Louisiana
Bulk is certainly the name of the game at the Port of South Louisiana, where 54 public and private facilities reside. The port moved 246 million short tons of cargo last year. Joseph Accardo, Jr., the Port of South Lousiana's executive director and CEO, said first quarter statistics for his port are showing a 1.6 percent increase on total exports compared to last year, along with some encouraging results with individual commodities. On the grain front, Accardo said first quarter maize exports have increased from 6.4 million to 8.4 million tons. Total export grain numbers at the port for 1999 were: 32 million tons of maize, 15.4 million tons of soybeans, 7.2 million tons of animal feed and 4.7 million tons of wheat.
The port has 11 grain transfer facilities in its district, the largest belonging to agricultural cooperative, Zenoh, with a lot of its exports going to Japan. Other grain export destinations from the port include the Middle East and Russia, both of which, according to Accardo "have dropped some."
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