(The Center Square) – The U.S. Commerce Department has approved an expansion of the Port of New Orleans’ Foreign-Trade Zone into St. Tammany Parish.
The zone will remain subject to federal rules, including a standard 2,000-acre activation limit.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from the parish and Commerce Department.
The expansion allows companies within the parish to access certain benefits such as duty deferrals, tariff reductions, and streamlined customs procedure.
Foreign-Trade Zones are federally designated areas that operate as secure sites under U.S. Customs and Border Protection oversight. Goods may be imported, assembled, and reexported with reduced or deferred tariffs, providing advantages for companies tied into global supply chains.
The Port of New Orleans already oversees Foreign Trade Zone 2, which has long covered the New Orleans Customs and Border Protection port of entry. By adding St. Tammany Parish, the port can link new industrial sites across Lake Pontchartrain into the trade zone framework.
The Port of New Orleans has steadily grown its trade zone footprint over the decades, with the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board approving a series of expansions to accommodate industry demand across southeast Louisiana.
The trade zone, originally approved in 1946, first operated out of the Napoleon Avenue Wharf. By the mid-1980s, the Board authorized additional acreage in New Orleans’ Almonaster-Michoud Industrial District, the Newport Industrial Park, and warehouse space near the New Orleans International Airport in Kenner.
Subsequent expansions in 1984, 1986 and 1991 added port and warehouse facilities in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes
In 1997, the Port successfully petitioned to extend the zone to St. Bernard Parish, bringing the Arabi and Chalmette Terminals – together more than 350 acres – under foreign trade zone status.
Those sites are run by the St. Bernard Port, Harbor and Terminal District and were folded into the zone as part of a state-designated Enterprise Zone, though no new manufacturing authority was requested at that time.
The zone was later reorganized under the federal Alternative Site Framework in 2010, giving the Port of New Orleans flexibility to designate foreign trade zone sites across Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes.
In his State of the Port address, Chairman Michael A. Thomas said more than $300 million has been invested in new cranes, terminal upgrades and rail expansions in the last five years, helping push container and barge volumes higher and boosting cruise traffic to nearly 1.3 million passengers.
Thomas pointed to $1.3 billion in combined federal, state and private commitments for the Louisiana International Terminal, projected to create 18,500 jobs and $1 billion in new state tax revenue by 2050.
“Together, we will solidify Louisiana’s position as the next generation leader in global trade,” he said.
In 2025, through the first half of the year, Port NOLA moved 263,961 20-foot equivalents, up from 258,758 TEUs in the same period last year – a 2% increase.
