THIBODAUX, LA (AP) — A new report says industry at Port Fourchon accounted for more than $2.8 billion in sales and $650 million in household earnings in 2013.
Loren Scott, president of Loren C. Scott & Associates, briefed the Greater Lafourche Port Commission Friday on the growing port.
The port is estimated to service 90 percent of deep-water oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Daily Comet’s Aaren Gordon reports the commission hired Scott to update a similar study released in 2008 that documents the port's economic impact.
Among key findings, the new report shows the total number of jobs directly related to Port Fourchon in the state — 10,804 — is greater than the total employment in each of 30 parishes. For every one job created at Port Fourchon, another 5.2 jobs are created elsewhere in the state to support it.
"Having conducted over 200 economic impact studies, our research team can affirm that this is an unusually high multiplier effect," the study states.
The study also found that over 8,000 jobs in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes are directly related to the existence of Port Fourchon.
"What this means is one out of every 13 jobs in this two-parish area is here because of the existence of the port," Scott said.
The transportation, mining sector, manufacturing companies and retail industries benefit most from these jobs, Scott said.
