September 1, 2004

Port of Corpus Christi clears final hurdle to develop
La Quinta Trade Gateway

Port of Corpus Christi officials received the final permit necessary for the La Quinta Trade Gateway from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, clearing the way for development of the site as a world-class, state-of-art container terminal. "We evaluated the full range of factors, from economic to environmental, and found the project to be in the public's interest to issue the permit. The permit is conditioned to fully compensate for any and all environmental impacts" said Fred Anthamatten, Chief, policy analysis section, regulatory branch, Galveston District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

La Quinta is a major component in the Port’s diversification plan and the ability to handle containerized cargo will position the Port as a major player in global distribution of consumer goods. The 1,100 acre site is expected to enhance the area’s economy by generating approximately 608 direct, induced and indirect jobs, $35 million of business revenue, $32 million of personal wages and salaries and consumption purchases, $4.1 million of local purchases, and $3 million of state and local taxes in the first year alone.

“With La Quinta, the Port offers a real opportunity to certain companies to be more competitive in world trade by increasing their distribution efficiency, reducing cost and getting products to consumers more rapidly” said Ruben

La Quinta stands to handle container cargo geared for markets in the Midwest and Western United States, Central/Southern Texas, Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Europe and other world markets. Much of this cargo will be everyday consumer goods where distribution efficiency is crucial.

Containerized trade is projected to quadruple within the next 20 years. The traditional container ports of Los Angeles-Long Beach and Houston are experiencing congestion within the ports and on their highways and railroads. La Quinta will complement their efforts to provide container port capacity to handle the massive volumes of trade.

“It isn’t just the ocean terminal, it’s the railroad and highway infrastructure supporting the ocean terminal. The long-term solution to congestion is to locate new ports in areas that can accommodate the growth and recognizing this trend, the shipping industry is looking to diversify its ports and is looking to the East Coast and the Gulf Coast for shipping centers.,” said John LaRue, Director of the Port of Corpus Christi.

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