Scanning the river for ocean vessels in route to City Docks is a local pastime that dates back to the 1920s, when the Port of Lake Charles began operating at the site.

Authorized in 1924 as a political subdivision of the state, the port has evolved over the past century into an industrial hub. It’s now the 11th-busiest port in the nation, projected to rise in rank over the next few years.

History

The story of the Port of Lake Charles begins long before its time, back in the early 1800s when Lake Charles was a port of call for the trade of lumber. By the late 1800s, residents had made cuts in the shallow sandbars that allowed larger vessels to pass.

At the turn of the century, a thriving rice and cotton trade brought new business to the small port. Once the Intracoastal Canal opened in 1915, connecting the Calcasieu and Sabine rivers, ocean vessels could travel up the Sabine and over to Lake Charles through the newly-constructed canal. The Police Jury approved a $2.75 million bond to deepen and widen the river to allow for these deeper-hulled ships.

Then in 1924, under Act 67 of the Louisiana Legislature, the Port of Lake Charles was authorized. A 2.5-mill ad valorem tax was instated in 1925 to cover operating expenses, and the port opened in 1926.

Because of the abundance of oil in Calcasieu Parish and access to an extensive rail service, the port soon became a center for the oil trade. The advent of World War II brought additional business to the port, as well as more military cargo.

In 1941, the port made perhaps its single largest capital improvement through funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: fashioning the Calcasieu Ship Channel into its current configuration, which shortened the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Charles from 85 to 40 miles and increased the channel’s depth and breadth to 250 feet by 35 feet.

Then-Gov. Sam Jones aptly dubbed it “a new era for Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana.”

Industries began to set up shop in the area, driven by war-time demand on materials: the Continental Oil Company refinery, now Phillip 66, in 1941; the Firestone synthetic rubber plant, now Firestone Polymers, in 1943; and the Cities Service refinery, now Citgo, in 1944.

These industries took the region’s raw oil, refined it and sold it. Meanwhile, the port continued to served as a major dock for incoming ships and to handle cargo alongside new companies.

Over the next two decades, more industries would pour into the area, including what is now PPG Industries, Westlake Chemical, Grace, Entergy, Lyondell-Basell, Sasol North America, Air Liquide and Alcoa.

In the 1960s, the channel’s depth was increased again to 400 feet wide by 40 feet deep. Also in the 1960s, the port constructed Bulk Terminal No. 1, its busiest revenue-driver today.

The 1970s through the 1990s saw continued growth in the industrial sector, bringing new businesses like TDC, Waste Management, Rain CII Carbon, Lake Charles LNG, Louisiana Pigment, BioLab and Lonza.

But the port suffered a blow to its reputation in 2003 when the Legislature dissolved its board due to fiscal mismanagement.

The state began looking into its finances after two port commissioners resigned in protest of spending and accountability practices and called for an audit of port finances, saying leaders’ travel and entertainment expenses were “potentially scandalous.”

Gov. Mike Foster called for an investigation of the port, which revealed reckless spending, among other issues. A new board was appointed by local lawmakers.

Port Marketing Director Dan Loughney said the old board had also done little to modernize facilities in the prior 40 years, leaving major capital improvements to the new board.

Today

Since 2003, the board has constructed a new warehouse, leveled two others for laydown yards and replaced its rails for the first time in decades, Loughney said. It also moved into a new $9.2 million administration building in December down the road from its old office on Marine Street.

“It’s our turn to take care of this old girl, and we need to bring her into the 21st century,” Loughney said.

Due to a drop in oil prices and an increasingly global economy, the port has expanded its services in recent years. Loughney said the port has been handling large imported cargo for industrial project under construction, like Sasol’s $11 billion petrochemical facility in Westlake and Cameron LNG in Hackberry.

It expects to continue handling project cargo for the next 10 years while the region’s anticipated projects are under construction.

Loughney said the port owns just under 6,000 acres over 103 square miles in Calcasieu Parish, and leases land to 40 tenants. Tenants include L’Auberge and Golden Nugget casinos; the Cameron LNG project underway in Hackberry; and planned projects like Lake Charles LNG, Magnolia LNG, Driftwood LNG and G2X Energy.

Loughney said the port made a promising move in May 2016, when it agreed to lease property by City Docks to Southern Ionics, expected to bring around 300,000 tons of cargo to the port each year. It also expects to sign a lease this summer with Lake Charles Methanol, a $3.6 billion facility pioneering clean energy production that will run cargo through the port.

He said the completion of a $16 million grain elevator, the first to be built along the Gulf of Mexico in about 50 years, in July 2015 has also been a big boost to the port.

“The farmers are happy and the cargos are moving,” Loughney said. “We’re not resting on our laurels. We’re still out looking for more cargos and trying to keep the economic industries moving and going from there.”

Officials have said they expect the number of ships going through the port each year to more than double over the next 10 years. Port Board President Daryl Burckel said he expects steady growth to continue.

“It’s not one big wave,” Burckel said. “It’s a constant flow that keeps coming.”

The grand opening of the Port of Lake Charles. (McNeese State University Archives)