Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Jeanne E. Ferrer and Darryl D. Berger to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) this month to succeed outgoing commissioners Charles H. Ponstein and William H. Langenstein, III respectively.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced a historic public-private partnership between the state of Louisiana, the Port of New Orleans and two global maritime industry leaders to build a $1.8 billion state-of-the-art container facility on the Lower Mississippi River. The new Louisiana International Terminal (LIT) in St. Bernard Parish will be able to serve vessels of all sizes, dramatically increasing Louisiana’s import and export capacity and stimulating the creation of more than 17,000 new jobs statewide by 2050, Port NOLA estimates.

Today, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced the first projects selected to receive a total of $3 million in grant funding under the Class II and III Rail Infrastructure Improvement Program.

Today, New Orleans Public Belt (NOPB) Railroad General Manager, Tomeka Watson-Bryant, was honored as one of Railway Age’s 2022 Women in Rail. Watson-Bryant, who became NOPB General Manager in June 2022, was one of 23 honorees from across the country recognized for her leadership, innovation and accomplishments in the railroading industry.

In an ongoing effort to engage local businesses in the New Orleans Gateway, the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) will host a Procurement Contractor’s Resource Event on Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at NOPB’s Joe Spot Training Center, 4822 Tchoupitoulas St., New Orleans, LA 70115.

Today, Brandy D. Christian, Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) President and CEO, and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) CEO, delivered the 2022 State of the Port address highlighting successes across the Port’s four lines of business and the completion of several vital maritime infrastructure projects. This was the first State of the Port gathering since 2019 before the pandemic.

Today, Sharonda Williams was sworn in as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) at the May 19, 2022, board meeting. Appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards, Williams succeeds Darryl D. Berger as one of four Orleans Parish representatives on the seven-member regional board and will serve a five-year term.

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Commission (NOPB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA), has named Tomeka Watson Bryant as its General Manager effective June 1, 2022. With this promotion, Watson Bryant, who has received industry-wide recognition, becomes the first African American woman to lead a short line railroad in the United States.

Governor John Bel Edwards issued a posthumous pardon of Homer Plessy, undoing his conviction 130 years ago for boarding a "whites only" rail car in New Orleans bound for Covington.

Making its way to the Supreme Court, the Plessy case set the “separate but equal” precedent for decades in America until it was reversed by Brown v Board of Education in 1954.

The New Orleans Public Belt was proud to play a role in the pardoning ceremony, alongside elected officials and descendants of both Plessy and Judge Howard Ferguson, who issued the original conviction.

The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans selected new officers with the election of Charles H. Ponstein as Chairman, Jack C. Jensen, Jr. as Vice Chairman and Joseph F. Toomy as Secretary-Treasurer during the monthly Board meeting Dec. 16.

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) resumed service to the New Orleans Gateway on Thursday, September 2, just four days after Hurricane Ida made landfall as a category 4 storm.

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad continues to make strides as a thriving rail service with recent milestones and expansion efforts resulting in significant improvements in output, safety and capacity.