West Calcasieu Port Director Lynn Hohensee announced that the port is now home to a certified site under Louisiana Economic Development’s Site Certification Program. The director made the announcement this morning at a special ceremony held at Intracoastal Park. 

The 32-acre certified site is adjacent to existing tenants and other port property, which consists of 203 acres along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway off La. Hwy. 27, just west of the Ellender Bridge. Hohensee hopes the Certified Site will help attract new tenants to the port, which is zoned Heavy Industrial. 

“Like our fellow 30-plus public maritime ports in Louisiana, the West Cal Port is a regional economic development engine designed to attract private business that, in turn, will facilitate the growth of private

investment, job growth and tax base expansion,” Hohensee explained. “Our port commissioners are confident that the newly certified acreage will be an incentive that will attract new tenants and their workforce.” 

“West Cal Port is located in an area that could potentially be useful to major construction projects as they develop up and down the Calcasieu Ship Channel,” said Gus Fontenot, Project Coordinator for the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. “The port having a certified site lets them offer an advantage to companies that want to locate and start their operations quickly. Hopefully this results in new jobs for the community and more revenue for the port,” added Fontenot. 

LED’s Site Certification Program promotes sites that are “shovel ready” for businesses and industries to build or locate. Since 2012, the Site Certification Program has incentivized land owners to get property certified by offering to pay up to 75 percent of the costs associated with the due diligence process. That process includes environmental inspection, elevation surveys, archaeological investigations, a wetlands delineation, and much more in-depth documentation, analysis, and background work. The remaining 25 percent of the costs are covered by the landowner or others. The West Cal Port site is the 12 th certified site in Southwest Louisiana and the ninth in Calcasieu Parish. 

For more information about Southwest Louisiana’s Site Certification Program, contact Gus Fontenot at The Alliance (337) 433-3632 or email gfontenot@allianceswla.org.

About West Cal Port

The mission of the West Calcasieu Port is to effectively serve the local community and its customers by creating jobs and business opportunities in the region through responsible management of port assets in an environmentally sensitive manner.

About the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance

To streamline economic development efforts throughout the region, the Chamber SWLA, its Foundation, and the SWLA Partnership for Economic Development joined forces in October 2006 to form the SWLA Economic Development Alliance. Since its formation, the Alliance has played an integral role promoting Southwest Louisiana as a great place to live, work, and raise a family. For more information, visit www.allianceswla.org.