As the first Black port chief executive in Louisiana’s history, one of Paul Matthews’ first priorities when he took the top job at the Port of South Louisiana six months ago was to commission a study of ways to open up opportunities to a more diverse group of suppliers.
The move was one of several he has taken, including reshuffling his management team to bring in fresh faces, in recognition of the symbolism of being the first African American to take charge of a Louisiana port since maritime operations began in New Orleans over three centuries ago.
“I recognize the historic nature of it and I embrace it,” Matthews said. “I may be the first but hopefully I’m not the last” African-American port chief in the state.
A period of stagnation
Matthews took over after a long period of stagnation at the Port of South Louisiana, which has suffered along with other U.S. ports from the trade wars pursued by President Donald Trump’s administration and the hit to world trade from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indeed, the port, which includes facilities along a 54-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, from Waggaman in Jefferson Parish to Convent in St. James Parish, last saw volume growth in 2017. It has since suffered a decline of more than 25% in terms of gross tonnage moving through its facilities.
It is still the largest in the Western Hemisphere in terms of bulk tonnage, handling about 15% of the country’s grain exports. And it’s one of the most important energy transfer ports in the country, with crude oil, refined products like gasoline, and an array of petrochemical products also moving through its system on their way to China, Latin America, or other far-flung destinations.
Port of South Louisiana executive director Paul Matthews stands at the port in Reserve on Thursday, June 23, 2022. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Matthews said that with international trade flows starting to recover from the pandemic, and with the Ukraine-Russia war causing major disruption in grain flows, the first priority for the port is to improve opportunities for agricultural commerce.
“The No. 1 priority right now is agriculture and growing our throughput, which is about 110 million tons a year,” he said.
Indeed, expansion of the port’s grain capacity is focused on a controversial proposal for a $400 million new terminal to be built in the nearby community of Wallace by Greenfield Louisiana, a unit of Greenfield Holdings of Denver, which operates grain elevators at Crowville and Delhi. The port backs the project’s planned 54 silos, which would have capacity to hold around 11 million tons of grain.
“There will be minimal environmental impacts,” Matthews assures. “An added value to the project will be significant direct economic benefit to the region, including 200 safe, high-paying jobs that are up to two times the national average and three times that of the state of Louisiana.”
The proposed Greenfield Louisiana grain terminal site, foreground, sits next to the community of Wallace, La. Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. On Friday, a state judge allowed pre-construction site work, including pile driving, to proceed. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
The argument is one Matthews has had plenty of opportunity to rehearse as the project has drawn considerable flak. A lawsuit filed by the Descendants Project, a group of residents in Wallace in St. John the Baptist Parish, aims to reverse a 1990 rezoning of the proposed site for heavy industrial use.
Permission had been championed by former Parish President Lester Millet Jr., who was convicted in federal court in 1996 of extorting $200,000 to push the deal through. Though the Greenfield project has nothing to do with that history, local opponents also argue that grain dust from the Greenfield facility would add to the pollution already endured by the community, which is mostly Black and low-income.
Matthews, 38, who lives in Metairie with his wife, a special-education teacher, argues that the economic benefit outweighs the drawbacks. He contends the best way to redress historical disadvantages for the underserved River Parishes communities is by creating jobs.
Justice equals new jobs
“One of the things we talk about in America right now is environmental injustice,” he said. “The west bank of St. John Parish has seen a significant decline in jobs, which has led to new generations of residents leaving the area to live and/or work outside of the region. This will attract young residents back to the area to build a good life for their families for generations to come.”
Matthews grew up in the Gentilly area of New Orleans, and describes himself as “a Ben Franklin kid,” name-checking his high school as any native of the city would.
After graduating from Tulane and earning an MBA from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Matthews worked in banking in central Louisiana before finding a mentor in Gary LeGrange, the former president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans.
Moving up
Matthews’ first job at the city’s port a decade ago was to teach students at local schools about the history and opportunities created by the port.
After four years learning the ropes at Port NOLA, he landed the job as deputy port director at the Plaquemines Port, where he spent much of his time lobbying for financial and local political backing for a huge new container terminal.
Experience has taught him that a major aspect of his current job is the diplomacy required to navigate hundreds of industrial tenants, local communities and their leaders, and the myriad state and federal bodies needed to support the port’s goals.
In his management reshuffle, Matthews brought in Roy Quezaire, a former state representative and Department of Transportation lobbyist, to head government relations. Also, Micah Cormier, who was U.S. Rep. Troy Carter’s community liaison, came in as head of communications.
Priorities for Matthews now also include several regional infrastructure projects that he says are needed to boost port volume.
These include widening Louisiana 3127 on the west bank of the Mississippi River. A 2.5-mile stretch near the site of the proposed Formosa Plastics Group plant, just south of the Sunshine Bridge, was widened from two to four lanes and “serves as a blueprint as to what further widening could do for commerce in the region,” Matthews said.
The port also is pushing for a new exit on Interstate 10 that would connect the Port of South Louisiana Executive Airport and the Globalplex Intermodal Terminal three miles away at Reserve. The port is also backing a $10 million plan to add lanes to the existing northbound 1-310 on-ramp, along with a dual on-ramp from East U.S. 90 in St. Charles Parish.
A matter of access
Matthews said he wants support from struggling River Parishes communities and promises that the “good-ol’ boy way of doing things” is a thing of the past.
“We are putting a focus on making sure that minority-owned businesses in the community have opportunities to work with the port and (we can) leverage our relationships with operators for potential procurement opportunities,” he said.
“As long as everyone has access to the same information and has the same opportunity to win business, then we are doing our job,” he said.
“There’s definitely work to be done,” Matthews concedes. “There are still days when I’m in meetings and I’m the only person in the room that looks like me. But I think the winds are changing and I think me being hired shows that.”
