April 2014
| Business World Magazine | 31
T
he numbers speak pretty well for
themselves.
The Port of South Louisiana han-
dled more than 266 million short tons of
cargo in 2013, making it the largest tonnage
port district in the Western Hemisphere.
More than 4,000 ocean-going vessels and
55,000 barges arrive annually within its 54-
mile Mississippi River stretch, and its 58
million short tons of exported cargo in 2013
was 57 percent of the total for the state – and
15 percent for the country.
But while the figures make a particularly
compelling case on their own, the port’s ex-
ecutive director, Paul Aucoin, prefers to drive
the productivity point home with some old-
fashioned bayou pride.
“We work with our three governing bod-
ies – St. John the Baptist, St. James and St.
Charles (parishes),” he said. “We work to-
gether well as a region and I’m very proud
of the fact that we all get along together and
work together. And I think Louisiana people
make the best workforce. You talk to any of
our plant managers that have been here for a
while, and they’ll say the Louisiana worker is
highly productive.
“We’re going to be short on maybe hav-
ing a trained workforce because there are so
many businesses locating here. They might
not be well-trained right now, but once
they’re trained, they are going to be produc-
tive. Louisianans are good, good workers.
Call up a few plant managers and they’ll tell
