Port of South Louisiana Executive Director Paul Aucoin has been named the 2021 recipient of the C. Alvin Bertel Award, reports Waterways Journal. Presented each year by the World Trade Center of New Orleans, the Bertel award is given to an individual who has made a consequential impact on the Louisiana maritime industry.
In July, Aucoin will celebrate eight years as executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, which covers 54 miles on both banks of the Mississippi River between the New Orleans area and Baton Rouge. The Port of South Louisiana is the largest port by tonnage in the Western Hemisphere and handles more than 50 percent of all U.S. grain exports.
Aucoin, who has long lobbied for keeping the Mississippi River fully dredged “all day, every day,” was also a vocal and visible advocate for deepening the Mississippi River Ship Channel to 50 feet, a project that got underway in 2020. Under Aucoin’s leadership, the port and its three-parish jurisdiction, which covers St. James, St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, have seen industrial capital investment announcements totaling more than $23.2 billion and the creation of 3,379 jobs.
The award will be presented to Aucoin in a ceremony and luncheon June 30 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel. See the full story.
