Coffee Gateway to the USA

by

By Dan Bolton

Nouvelle-Orléans remains the steadfast companion of coffee, weathering 300 years of storm and strife as the coffee gateway to the USA. Today it is the No. 1 US port for imported coffee, exceeding tonnage landed in New York for the second year in a row.

In 1718 the French Mississippi Company began operations on the banks of the Mississippi River at the first crescent of high ground inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Named for the Duke of Orléans the city prospered as the terminus for cargo-laden flatboats delivering the riches of the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi River valleys.

During colonial times small shipments of coffee returned upstream, a favorite of settlers but a market underserved by European colonial powers sourcing coffee in the Middle East. Cuba and the Caribbean islands were the first to cultivate coffee in the Americas. Jesuits planted coffee in Haiti (then known as Saint Domingue) in 1670. Commercial production was well underway by 1734. In 1748 José Antonio Gelabert introduced the first coffee to Cuba which became a major supplier after the Haitian Revolution of 1791.

It was from Cuba that the first shipments arrived in New Orleans, still under control of the French until the $11 million Louisiana Purchase, which added the vast upper reaches of the Mississippi to the fledgling US in 1803. In 1802 the port handled 1,438 bags of coffee, a volume that would rise to 530,000 bags by 1857.

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Ports in New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans dominated the coffee market but in recent years Port NOLA has become the nation’s premier coffee handling port, with 14 warehouses, more than 5.5 million square feet of storage space, and six roasting facilities within a 20-mile radius. Two of the most modern bulk processing operations are located in New Orleans: Dupuy Storage and Forwarding Corp. and Silocaf of New Orleans Inc., the world’s largest coffee silo.

All of Folgers coffee, a subsidiary of J.M. Smucker, comes through Port NOLA and is roasted at a 400,000 sq. ft. coffee roasting plant in New Orleans East. Port NOLA’s coffee storage warehouses are certified by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

“Our proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean makes Port NOLA the best choice for coffee import,” according to Donnell Jackson, manager of media relations at the Port of New Orleans.

Intermodal advantage

A strategic study, commissioned after 175-mph winds from Hurricane Katrina left support facilities badly damaged in 2005, identified the availability of a bundle of inland transportation services for containerized cargo at Port NOLA as “one of the most important competitive advantages compared to other ports,” according to engineering and design firm Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB).

“In addition to rail and truck connections, Port NOLA also has direct access to the Mississippi River inland waterway system—a slower, but safer and more cost-effective transportation mode that is particularly attractive to shippers of low-value and/or hazardous goods, such as grains,” according to PB.

The Port has invested more than $140 million in capital improvements since 2012 including a $25 million intermodal terminal. Today Port NOLA is the only seaport in the US served by all six Class I rail lines, 50 ocean carriers, 16 barge lines, and 75 truck lines utilizing a two-lane truckway. On-dock rail and direct ship-to-barge services make transit times speedy.

Port NOLA’s Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal has experienced significant growth over the last few years. This trend is expected to continue, says Jackson. The intermodal facility features four railroad tracks each with a 1,500-feet working pad to transfer thousands of containers daily.

The Napoleon Container Terminal surpassed 500,000 TEUs for the third consecutive year in 2017, says Jackson. “In the first 11 months of fiscal year 2018, Port NOLA handled more than 500,000 TEUs and anticipates exceeding 540,000 TEUs for the entire fiscal year,” she said. The 12-acre site is equipped with six ship-to-shore gantry cranes, this container terminal has capacity to handle 840,000 TEUs annually. The expansion footprint there calls for capacity to handle 1.5 million TEUs annually and additional gantry cranes, she said.

Value-added services

Coffee is the top containerized import at Port NOLA, Jackson. “Tonnage has trended near 250,000 tons annually which is equivalent to 20 billion cups of coffee. This equates to roughly 17.5% of the total US market share,” she said.

“Import volumes have been growing by an average 1.6% annually over the past decade. Traditionally, roughly 70% of imported coffee volumes originate from South America, including Brazil and Colombia. Asia accounts for the second largest source, including Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand,” said Jackson.

Port NOLA offers value-added services for imported coffee that include capabilities to weigh, sort, grade, roast, and package the commodity within close proximity to all Port facilities. Two of the most modern bulk processing operations are located in New Orleans: Dupuy Storage and Forwarding Corp. the first US green coffee silo and J.M. Smucker Coffee Silo Operations (Silocaf of New Orleans Inc.), the world’s largest coffee processing facility. Dupuy v.p. Janet Colley Morse, stressed the importance of offering an extensive array of value-added services for coffee imported through the Port of New Orleans. 

“Redefining ourselves as an integral part of the coffee supply chain has set us apart as a service provider and offered the port with another attractive option to roasters and importers alike,” said Colley Morse. “The history of coffee in New Orleans is undeniable, and we feel that offering these services will serve to maintain our city’s viability and necessity to the entire coffee industry,” she said.