Port History
The French established the Port of New Orleans as a trade center in 1718. By 1721, 470 people lived there. Unprofitable for the French, they secretly transferred it to Spain in 1763. It was secretly returned to Napoleon, who negotiated its sale to the U.S. in 1803. At that time, it contained about 8000 people, half of them white and a third of them slaves.
The first half of the 19th Century was a golden age of cotton for the booming Port of New Orleans. By 1835, commerce reached $54 million and, in 1840, four hundred Mississippi River steamboats berthed there. By 1850, over 100 thousand people called Port of New Orleans home. Unappreciated by the Confederacy, the Port of New Orleans was occupied by Union troops from the sea in 1862.
The early 20th Century saw the end of river steamboats, and the Port of New Orleans was stymied. But the arrival of towboats and barges made it the second largest port in the U.S. after World War II. Petrochemical industries arrived in the 1950s, and oil refineries grew in the 1970s. By the beginning of this Century, the Port of New Orleans thrived, boasting a strong tourist economy.
Port Commerce
The Port of New Orleans is the fifth largest port in the U.S. by cargo volume and 12th largest by value. The Port of New Orleans welcomes about five thousand ships from almost 60 countries each year, and it handles more trade with Latin America than any other U.S. port.
Cruising and Travel
Barges and passenger cruises make Port of New Orleans a busy transportation center. Every year, about 50 thousand barges travel the Mississippi River or the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway that meet in Port of New Orleans. In 2004, nearly 800 thousand cruise passengers traveled through the Port of New Orleans. Several world cruise companies are based there.
|
