Screen saver, deer hunting, soggy land help land port project

Gov. Phil Bryant says a telephone screen saver, his penchant for deer hunting and soggy land around Fourchon, Louisiana, helped Mississippi land a deal for a new Gulfport shipyard that might stop the feds breathing down the state’s neck over port jobs.

Lawmakers on Thursday approved $11 million in state borrowing plus long-term tax breaks to help Edison Chouest build a shipyard at the State Port of Gulfport’s “inland port” property it bought last year on the nearby Industrial Seaway. The company promises to sink $68 million into its Topship operation and will also receive $25 million in federal Community Development Block Grant money from the state port. The federal money is part of a $570 million post-Hurricane Katrina expansion and rebuilding project HUD approved in 2008, over community protest the money should go toward housing, not port expansion.

Bryant is quick to note he inherited the port expansion project from former Gov. Haley Barbour.

“That difficult inheritance I found myself in — it’s the port of the future,” Bryant said, referring to Barbour’s term for the project. “… I first went out there to look and they told me they’re raising (the West Pier) 25 feet. I said you don’t need to go higher, go deeper. Who’s running this place? Start digging.”

The larger port project has created few jobs, and HUD has threatened the state with sanctions or “de-obligation” of some of its funding, Bryant said, which means paying it back.

“It’s called de-obligation — that’s like the Spanish term Diablo, the devil,” Bryant said. “We don’t want de-obligation. It would be a nightmare, a cataclysmic disaster. Come up with $250 million. How would we do that?”

The 1,000 jobs from the Topship project would put the state close to its jobs obligations for the port, Bryant said, and he’s confident the state will meet the requirements.

“I understand there’s another casino that’s going to be built on port property,” Bryant said.

Bryant said Mississippi Development Authority caught wind that Edison Chouest, which makes service and supply vessels for offshore oil and gas rigs, was looking for a site for a new shipyard. He went to Port Fourchon to meet with Edison CEO Gary Chouest.

“I get in a van with him, and his iPhone is laying on the center console,” Bryant said. “He’s got what looks to be a big red stag on his screen saver. We spent the next 30 minutes talking about deer and showing each other hunting pictures … Me and Gary, we’re partners by the time we get to lunch that day.

“Then, he shows me this area and says, ‘We’ll have to fill this in, because Port Fourchon is a bog. I said, ‘Gary, no, man. I’ve got a spot for you.’ … He sent his guys over, and they loved it — the site, the old building Ingalls had left … We just hit it off, and he said, ‘We can do this, give us a little time.’”

Bryant said the Topship operation is likely to bring ancillary business and increase activity at the port proper. He said he is not concerned with the nosedive in the oil industry from low prices and noted, “nobody believes oil is going to stay $26 a barrel.”

“Gary Chouest and his team are putting in $68 million of their own money, and they are very good business people and they understand the market,” Bryant said.

Bryant said Topship will be good for the Coast.

“I tell my friends down there, ‘I can’t get you an automobile manufacturer,’” Bryant said. “That sea air is tough on cars. But if you’re making ships, you have to have the ocean. Edison Chouest was a perfect fit.”

Contact  Geoff Pender at (601) 961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.