Economic Damages to Gulf Ports

Blog:

The fishing industry is not the only commercial enterprise that could incur damages.

Nearly one-sixth of America's trade cargo is handled by five Gulf Coast ports. In 2003, the total tonnage of land and sea trade cargo was 1,126 million tons. One hundred seventy-eight million tons passed through the ports of New Orleans and South Louisiana, the port of Mobile, Alabama, the ports of Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi.

• The Port of New Orleans - 50 million tons
• The Port of South Louisiana - 80 million tons
• The Port of Gulfport, Mississippi - 2 million tons
• The Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi - 21 million tons
• The Port of Mobile, Alabama - 25 million tons

The importance to commodity trade from Gulf ports should not be underestimated. It affects not only Americans but also a vast array of farms, businesses, and workplaces around the world. Port operations touch Midwestern corn growers, rubber tappers from Indonesia, zinc miners from Namibia, computers assembled in Malaysian, as well as coffee plantation workers in Colombia, Rwanda and Guatemala.