MVTTC Holds 42nd Annual Conference In New Orleans

The Mississippi Valley Trade & Transport Council (MVTTC) held its 42nd annual conference February 8 in New Orleans, with a focus on the economy, the state of the Mississippi River Ship Channel, politics, commodity trends and more.

Jeff Carman, senior sales director for American Commercial Barge Line and chairman of MVTTC, offered opening remarks for the conference, followed by Capt. Kelly Denning, commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. Denning discussed recent low water on the Lower Mississippi River, the Coast Guard’s cyber security risk plan and the 3,000-person employee shortfall facing the agency. Denning noted that the Coast Guard is having to shut down some service stations due to lack of personnel.

Denning said the message the agency is sending to those communities is, “We’ll come back when we have more people to man them.”

The address to the MVTTC conference marked a farewell of sorts for Denning, who will retire and transfer command June 7 to her deputy commander, Capt. Gregory Callaghan.

Loren Scott, economic consultant and a former economics professor at Louisiana State University, was the keynote speaker for the conference. Scott overviewed the Federal Reserve’s efforts to lower inflation rates from 40-year highs just a year or two ago, while also seeking to avoid sending the U.S. economy into a recession. Scott said, in his view, the effect of the presidential race on the economy is a “toss up.” He added that, as a citizen and an economist, he tends to approach presidential elections from the perspective of who will put policies in place that will be best for the economy.

“When I vote for president, I’m not sending a Valentine’s Day card,” he said.

Scott also focused on the extraordinary number of LNG-related projects in Louisiana and the impact that the Biden administration’s pause on liquified natural gas permitting could have on the state. Louisiana has $33.8 billion in LNG-related projects under construction, and a total of $120.6 billion in projects announced but awaiting final investment decision. While some LNG export facilities already have permitting and longterm contracts in place, others, like phases two and three of Venture Global’s facility in Plaquemines Parish, do not. Those facilities stand to miss out on long-term contracts due to permitting delays, Scott said.

Sean Duffy, executive director of the Big River Coalition, led a discussion on two studies examining the Mississippi River, including the New Orleans Engineer District’s Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study and the LSU and Tulane University-led Mississippi River Delta Transition Initiative, or “MissDelta” for short.

The Corps study is a five-year effort to develop a management strategy for the river from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf, while the MissDelta study focuses on the river below Bohemia at Mile 44. According to Mead Allison, department chairman of Tulane’s River, Coastal Science and Engineering Center, around 55 percent of the Mississippi’s flow leaves the river above Head of Passes. That loss of flow is likely having a destabilizing effect on the river below Bohemia.

Scott Sigman, principal adviser for Equinanimous Advisory Service Enterprise, moderated a trade and transport panel discussion that looked at major issues facing the Mississippi Valley. Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition, focused his attention on the dysfunction in Washington D.C. and the potential impact that can have globally.

“When the good guys don’t step out, the bad guys step in,” he said.

Steenhoek then took the example of a piece of furniture from IKEA that’s made of Romanian wood, finished in China, shipped to the West Coast of the United States, then railed to Chicago and sold for $200.

“That’s kind of a wondrous thing that’s happened,” he said.

It’s also something that can be easily disrupted by global politics or unrest.

Robert Seward, vice president of Pangaea Logistics Solutions; Mike Ellis, CEO of American Commercial Barge Line; and Paul Matthews, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, went on to discuss issues facing their organizations and the maritime industry as a whole.

Finally, the conference wrapped up with a coal-focused panel discussion that featured representatives of mining companies, shippers and buyers.

Each year, MVTTC holds its annual conference the week before Mardi Gras, which fell this year on February 13. Besides the day-long conference, MVTTC also held a golf tournament and hosted a Mardi Gras Fete dinner at Red Fish Grill in the French Quarter. After the conference, the council hosted a parade party February 10 at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Restaurant on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown New Orleans, with parades by the Krewe of Iris and the Krewe of Tucks passing nearby.

With Mardi Gras set for March 4, 2025, next year’s MVTTC conference will likely be held toward the end of February. For more information on the Mississippi Valley Trade & Transport Council, including future events, go online to www.mvttc.com.