Gulf Trade: Top Carriers and Ports

Special Report

US Gulf breakbulk ports lean into project boom

By Autumn Cafiero Giusti

Major industrial and energy projects on the Gulf Coast are dialing up cargo activity at two of the largest US ports for breakbulk and project cargo, even as conflict in the Middle East introduces global shipping disruptions and tariffinduced market volatilities linger.

The Port of New Orleans and Port Houston are coming off a year of growth for project cargo volumes, albeit with a drop in steel imports, and both ports anticipate a continuation of those trends.

For New Orleans, the latest development expected to drive project cargo activity is the $ 3.4 billion expansion of Shintech’ s chemical manufacturing complex in southeastern Louisiana, a project announced March 4. Construction is set to take place in phases, with the first phase slated for completion in 2030. Shintech is the world’ s largest manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride( PVC).

“ With them announcing a new expansion, there’ s a lot of optimism from the petrochemical sector, especially in light of the challenges in the Middle East that affect the products they’ re producing on a competitive scale,” Janine Mansour, director of trade development for the Port of New Orleans, told the Journal of Commerce.

Project cargo volumes at the Port of New Orleans increased 31 % to 64,806 tons in 2025, with shipments originating from multiple global locations including Italy, China, India, Thailand, and South Korea, according to data

from the Port. That growth comes after a 46 % increase in project cargo volumes in 2024.

Major projects producing project cargo include Venture Global’ s massive CP2 liquefied natural gas( LNG) export facility in southwest Louisiana, UBE Corporation’ s Louisiana EV battery plant outside of New Orleans that will produce key chemicals used in EV battery manufacturing, and Meta’ s 4-million-square-foot data center in northeast Louisiana. Hyundai Steel also plans to build a $ 5.8 billion low-carbon steel mill in southeast Louisiana.

Overall breakbulk volumes at the Port of New Orleans fell 22 % to 958,152 tons in 2025, according to port data, because of tariff-related market uncertainty and because some steel and non-ferrous cargoes have shifted to containers, Mansour said.

“ There’ s a lot of optimism from the petrochemical sector, especially in light of the challenges in the Middle East.”

Breakbulk steel volumes declined 29 % to 524,749 short tons in 2025, with most cargo coming from Japan, followed by South Korea and China, according to data from the port.“ Steel imports have been severely hit by tariff increases to foster domestic production,” Mansour said, adding that the port last year measured an 80 % year-over-year increase, to 129,705 tons, of bulk imports of ferro alloys and silico-alloys, both of which are used in steel manufacturing.

With the declines in breakbulk cargoes, the total number of multipurpose / heavy-lift vessel( MPV / HL) calls at New Orleans fell to 163 in 2025 from 189 the previous year.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East could potentially squeeze vessel capacity for breakbulk and project cargoes worldwide, as port closures and route changes have already been tying up vessels on the container side, Mansour said. That could indirectly affect vessel movements at the Port of New Orleans.

32 Journal of Commerce | April 6, 2026 www. joc. com