Water Online
Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Agency announced a $1.6M grant to The Water Institute of the Gulf for the development of a Lower Mississippi River SmartPort & Resilience Center (SmartPort). This federal award adds to $1.4M in matching funding from the State of Louisiana and other partners involved in this $3M collaborative project.
“President Biden is committed to unleashing the full power of the federal government to ensure our nation not only recovers from this pandemic but builds back better,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “SmartPort will use data and analytics to improve business continuity and preparedness, which will better enable Louisiana ports to respond to disasters and prepare for future economic challenges.”
Through the development of a decision support tool to forecast shoaling at port facilities along the Mississippi River, SmartPort will improve port operations and benefit a variety of stakeholders who need to understand how sediment builds up in the Mississippi River. This Real-Time Shoaling Forecast Tool will be coupled with a suite of weather, river, and road traffic analytics to improve efficiency and help the region’s ports become more resilient in the face of future natural disasters and economic shocks.
“With the SmartPort initiative, Louisiana is taking a major leading role in bringing technological efficiencies to maritime commerce,” said Governor John Bel Edwards. “Louisianans are keenly aware of the vital role the Mississippi River plays in our history, our economic successes, and our future. This grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration is an affirmation that they, too, understand the role that safe, efficient river-based transportation plays in the broader U.S. economy. With the support of ports along the river, the SmartPort program will help us set a new standard for safety and emergency management.”
Along with these advanced analytics, customized Resilience Dashboards will be created and maintained for the Ports of Lake Providence, Madison, Vidalia, Baton Rouge, South Louisiana, New Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines. These dynamic tools will assist in tracking progress and adaptively managing port resilience. Along with the digital platform, this $3M investment will culminate in a new SmartPort facility to be housed on The Water Campus in Baton Rouge. The facility will serve as a specialized emergency operation center for ports when needed and a place for the exchange of information during non-emergency times.
“Louisiana’s Lower Mississippi River ports make up one of the most significant maritime complexes in the world,” LED Secretary Don Pierson said. “Through the establishment of this innovative technology, SmartPort will bring forward the most sophisticated and efficient information management system for water-borne traffic in the world. This will surely increase Louisiana’s global competitiveness. I look forward to working with The Water Institute to initially deploy SmartPort in Louisiana and then to ports across the country and around the world.”
Today’s announcement builds on a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) signed on July 13, 2020, between the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana Economic Development, and The Water Institute to pilot the Real-Time Shoaling Forecast Tool around the Port of New Orleans. The Institute worked closely with the Port of New Orleans, IBM, and Crescent Towing in developing tools that successfully harvested and validated depth data to inform port dredging operations. Through SmartPort, the Institute will be able to scale this successful pilot project along the Lower Mississippi River from North Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. Read the full story here.