This initiative will provide support for the Port of New Orleans to help to better protect the port against threats and disruptions, as well as streamline port operations. By crowd-sourcing data from the port’s tug fleet, the SmartPort Initiative will be able to predict future dredging needs.

In addition, a SmartPort facility will be created at The Water Campus in Baton Rouge that will use artificial intelligence platforms to optimize the port’s performance and provide a redundancy of services that is essential in an area prone to floods and hurricanes.

Along with energy industry partners Chevron, Shell, and Danos, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission and the Water Institute formed the Partnership for Our Working Coast which takes a science-based approach to maximizing the benefits of coastal restoration efforts to protect critical infrastructure, improve the ecosystem and community resilience, and capture/store carbon.

The Coastal Hydrologic Consortium is a partnership between the Water Institute, Louisiana State University, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, and the University of Iowa to jointly develop, pursue and complete research projects that advance the science, engineering, modelling and understanding of processes in the transition zone between coastal and inland areas. This work will help communities and economies within this zone become more resilient and sustainable.

The Calcasieu Ship Channel (CSC) is critical to Southwest Louisiana and the national economy. Each year, approximately 56 million tons of cargo, including nearly eight percent of the nation’s daily oil consumption is transported along the CSC. Maintaining the adequate dimensions to accommodate ship traffic that is increasing in both volume and vessel size requires a rigorous dredging and disposal strategy. In support of the Port of Lake Charles, the Water Institute has conducted an analysis of the sediment input to the CSC, and the sediment output from dredging to create a tool that might reduce dredging needs for the Port.