Let me introduce my credentials so that what I write will be met with credibility. Previous to my 12 years as a state Senator, serving on the Commerce and Finance Committees, I was a five-year member of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, serving as Chairman in my final year.

During my term as Port Chairman, I was a part of the team that negotiated and signed the contract with MSC Shipping, at that time the number three container shipping company in the world, to bring permanent service to the Port of New Orleans.

Based on my experience it is my belief that the newest version of the “deal” in which the Port of South Louisiana would buy out the current owner of the old Avondale Shipyard site and grant them a sweet long term management contract would be total failure of prudent leadership.

As a member of the Port of New Orleans Board I requested a feasibility study of converting Avondale into a breakbulk port facility similar to what has been proposed (most container vessels can’t get there because the Huey P. Long Bridge is too low). The result of that study was that because the site required massive investment and because it was obsolete as a terminal, the only value existed if and only if the Port had a specific end user who would sign a long-term lease for the majority of the site. Such a lease has not now, nor probably ever will, come to fruition. If the Port of South Louisiana would produce such a lease I would instantly withdraw my objections, but instead, the state is being asked to accept a purchase on the basis of “if we build it they will come.”

The obvious question is how the state Bond Commission could trust a port district with limited breakbulk experience to take on a high-risk project based on questionable valuation; a valuation supported by no assurance of future tenants. Specifically, how can the Bond Commission trust a board that has rashly agreed to pay the seller multiples of the seller’s investment based on pie-in-the-sky estimates and then, after questions were asked, suddenly saw the selling price drop by $100-plus million.

From a purely economic perspective, there is absolutely no reason to buy the Avondale site. Let the current owner, the owner that did its own due diligence, continue to take the risk on the success of the site. If they succeed it is a big win for Jefferson Parish and the region. If they fail, they will be more than happy to unload the facility to a port district for a nominal sum.

One last point. When I was in the Senate, to stop wasted effort and for the state to realize the maximum return on its asset that is the Mississippi River and its ports, I created by law the Board of International Commerce. The goal of this Board was to coordinate and plan for all international trade and port facility needs, eliminating overlap and wasted effort. The strength of the law is that all projects that require state participation must be vetted by the Board of International Commerce to assure that the project is in accordance with the state’s Master Plan for International Commerce. By ignoring the law, the Governor and the Department of Economic Development have seen fit to undermine the Board’s ability to perform, but the law is extant, and since after many years we still have no Master Plan it is unlikely that a purchase of Avondale has or could meet the law’s requirements.

It would be derelict on the part of the Bond Commission based on questionable metrics to allow a state board to assume a huge risk of default by agreeing to buy a black hole that will demand untold future sums. There is nothing to be gained and plenty to be lost in this transaction. Further in accordance with the law, not to have a Master Plan for International Commerce is just negligence and shows a lack of vision.