Research Center

Port Profiles

Louisiana is blessed with an abundance of navigable waterways - approximately 5,000 miles of rivers, bayous and canals. Its centralized location in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system that surrounds the northern Gulf of Mexico, places Louisiana ports among the busiest in the world, moving more than a billion tons of cargo annually to and from the United States and Central and South America, Africa, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, the Baltic States, Europe and all points in between. In addition to its six deepwater ports, 44 coastal and inland ports accommodate shallow-draft vessels and barge traffic. Cargo can be delivered by barge from Louisiana via the 19,000-mile Mississippi River system.

To find out more about the ports of Louisiana, view the port profiles below, which outline annual tonnage, commodities, freight forwarders, transportation access and more.

Louisiana' Port System Maps