The Port of New Orleans is exploring the feasibility and cost of converting the former Avondale Shipyard on the Mississippi River into a breakbulk cargo terminal.

Port officials said they’re moving cautiously because of the likely costs, but want to determine whether the 260-acre property could be used for breakbulk shipments that support value-added manufacturing.

The port is conducting an engineering study to see what would be needed to convert the Avondale property to handle breakbulk cargo such as steel, non-ferrous metals, natural rubber, lumber, automobiles and other commodities.

The study is expected to be completed in two to four weeks. Depending on what the study finds, the port then could make a more detailed examination of the pros and cons of acquiring the property.

Avondale, once one of the largest shipyards in the United States, was closed at the end of 2014.

The port has identified 32 acres at the site for potential development into a breakbulk terminal. This section has pile-supported building ways where ships were built before being launched sideways into the river.

If the project’s engineering and costs prove feasible, steel and other raw and semifinished materials could be imported and used by industrial tenants that could then use the terminal to ship out finished goods, port officials said.

The former shipyard is across the river and about eight miles upstream from the port’s Napoleon Avenue container terminal.

Vertical clearance limitations on the Huey P. Long Bridge make the former shipyard unsuitable for a container terminal. The rail-highway bridge has a clearance of 153 feet when the river’s Carrollton gage is at zero. At the river’s current high level, clearance is about 138 feet.

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