Thomas L. Lorenzi

The Port of Lake Charles is a deepwater seaport in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and it is currently ranked as the 11th-busiest port district in the U.S.—based on cargo tonnage—by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Port encompasses 203 square miles of prime channelside real estate along the Calcasieu River Ship Channel. Over 56 million tons of breakbulk and bulk cargo are transported annually on the channel, including forest materials, aluminum ingots, grains, rice, petroleum and petroleum products, frac sand, and heavy-lift project cargos. The channel begins in the Gulf of Mexico 32 miles from landfall and extends an additional 36 miles inland to Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, and it is the conduit for 7.5 percent of the nation’s daily fuel consumption, which comes from refineries along the channel. The Port is officially the Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District, a public body created by the Louisiana Legislature, and it is governed by a seven-member board of commissioners, which oversees two marine terminals and over 5,000 acres of property zoned for industrial use, including an industrial park. In addition, the Port serves as landlord to companies leasing Port-owned property and owns several leasable sites on and near the Calcasieu Ship Channel. For more information on the Port of Lake Charles, call 337-439-3661 or visit www.portlc.com.